Mates and Stalemates (CorruptedShipping)
by Moxie-Strike
Summary: Detective Rosa White is about to convict the serial killer of Virbank when she stumbles upon a new clue about the activities of a mysterious crime organization. Her success gives her the opportunity to join the main division in Castelia, however this means becoming the mentee of the unpleasant Inspector Lack-Two. Can they overcome their differences and bust Team Plasma together?
1. Chapter 1: Placing The Pieces

**Chapter 1: Placing The Pieces**

* * *

**Welcome to 'Mates and Stalemates', my new big story project with the characters from the PokeSpe B2W2 manga, only slightly altered to fit into the scenario. I wanted to go fully into crime fiction with this, because I feel comfortable writing in that genre, but the main focus will still be the characters and their relationships. And an immediate all-clear concerning the rating: There should be nothing not suitable for younger readers in this chapter, I'll warn you when later parts of the story get a little heavier.  
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**I want to thank magnipisika16 and Leafpuff for the inspiration of this story. Hopefully they won't feel like I'm copying them somehow. Their work is extremely recommendable, they definitely are some of the best writers this fandom has, so check them out if you want more.**

**With this, I truly can't promise regular upload of new chapters. I want it to be as well-written as possible and every sentence to be thought over, so that the quality can make up for the wait. That's enough exposition here, since the story, especially its first chapter, should speak for itself. I hope you enjoy it.**

********Standard Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, places or Pokemon itself, and I have no intentions to earn money with this story in any way!********

* * *

Not the slightest of sounds was audible when Detective Rosa White entered the big hall on her search for the decisive piece of evidence. She had been working overtime for weeks to bring the serial murderer that terrorized Virbank City to justice. Now she was certain that in this warehouse close to the Virbank Complex she would finally find the killer's weapon, which would prove his guilt beyond the shadow a doubt.

Leo Sedate, Captain of the Aspertia unit which she was part of, followed her inside equally noiselessly. He had allowed her to take the lead in this investigation to let her gain some experience, knowing it would help her if she sought a promotion. The young woman had always had higher ambitions than him, and he didn't want to stand in her way, although he hoped not to lose his most promising Detective too soon.

Right behind him were two assistants Rosa had nominated to help them with the search. The four of them moved around in the room for a short while to see if they could find something without giving their positions away. Once they had ruled that out, they switched on their torches.

It was a large number of boxes they had to check the contents of. At least after a short while the probability of somebody being there with them abated, as that person would have either fled or attacked sooner. However, they still had to be on their guard in case said character waited for them to find the right crate.

Rosa felt pretty confident she found a firm lead when she reached a place where traces showed multiple boxes had been stepped on to access some others in a high spot. The Detective smiled, as she had set her long brown hair at the sides to buns, especially for a situation like this so it would not get in the way during physical exercises. She liked it in this style, considering to keep it that way. At least it did indeed come in handy.

The young woman was about to start climbing when Leo tapped her on the shoulder carefully. „We have to pull back, Rosa", he whispered as quietly as he could.

The look on her face made it obvious she thought she had heard him wrong. „Pull back? Now?", she questioned unbelieving and had to restrain herself from being too loud due to her surprise.

As a response, her Captain moved his flashlight so that it pointed on a stack of crates in a corner he had just searched. On one of them, his subordinate discerned a peculiar symbol. It looked like a coat of arms, the left half of it white, the right one black, and in the middle was a blue 'P' crossed by a somehow misshapen 'Z'. She had never seen anything like it.

„I don't understand", the Detective mouthed.

Leo's eyes widened. „You don't know? That sign is..." While he was searching for the right words, he realized they were still inside the warehouse and constantly whispering might get strenuous. „I'll explain outside", he said. With a quick gesture, the Captain indicated to her that she should follow him outside.

She did as he commanded, but her aversion was clearly visible on her face as soon as the light of the afternoon sun fell on it again. The young woman was sure she would have solved the case if nobody had stopped her, and most of all she was eager to get back in there and do what they came here for. Still, she patiently waited for her superior to explain why he had a problem with that.

Said man needed a moment until his eyes had adjusted to the changed lighting conditions, another moment to check whether anybody was around to hear them. Luckily the few people in sight didn't care for the four police officers at all.

The town was for the most part inhabited by employees of the Complex, who were at work around this time, and folks enjoying it for its underground club culture, who weren't outside around this time. Tourists would be drawn by the near movie studios rather than the warehouses. The few people differing from this norm couldn't care less about officials doing their work, considering the more worrying crime rate of this place.

Once Leo was sure nobody could eavesdrop on them, he told his Detective: „The symbol on that box belongs to a criminal organization calling themselves 'Team Plasma'. The main unit of Castelia has recently announced that these people are their matter only."

„What?", Rosa expressed her disbelief. Now that she didn't have to keep quiet anymore, she spoke a tad louder than intended. Realizing this, the Detective decided to make it appear like a manifestation of her frustration instead of an accident. „I have been working on this case for weeks, and now I'm supposed to let somebody else solve it?"

Her superior looked at her sympathetically, but she also noticed something like helplessness in his eyes. Apparently he had no say in this decision. He ordered one of the assistants to call the division in Castelia and report to them what they had found before devoting himself to her again. „Their leading Inspector has been serious about this. He does not want to risk that any piece of evidence ends up in another bureau than theirs without them knowing about it."

The Detective raised an eyebrow. „And this Inspector can just do that? Claiming a case they haven't investigated in just because we find that sign on a box?", she wanted to know.

„As long as his Superintendent is having his back, he can do almost anything", Leo said. With a rueful smile, the short man looked at her. Of course Rosa wouldn't like having to leave the case with somebody else, since that would cost her most of the credit and put her rise in position she had worked so hard to get in considerable distance. Still, he couldn't help her now.

He had been studying with that Inspector for a short while and knew him enough to not have high hopes of him changing his mind. Not because he was unreasonably stubborn – only a little -, but because in most cases his first decision was more reasonable. „The top management supports him with this. It keeps information on the Plasma case from leaking to the public, and fair enough, nobody outside the police knows about it yet", the Captain added.

Rosa still had further arguments against the course of action: „But to get here from Castelia City, they have to take a boat, that might take over an hour. We are already here, we can act right now", she insisted.

„That makes no difference, Detective, we're not in a rush", Leo pointed out, striking a slightly harsher note now. Despite his sympathy for her situation, he couldn't change it. She was the youngest Detective in his unit, having risen up to her position remarkably fast, but her problem had always been that she would not hold back in front of higher-ups when she wanted something.

The young woman shrank a little after her superior's change of tone. Whenever he did that, it was best not to keep beating the drum. She was relieved seeing the assistant who had made the call rushing towards them. „Sir, I have spoken with Castelia's official in charge, they are sending a team over right away."

„Thank you", the Captain said. He sat down on a low brick wall and sighed, closing the zipper of his jacket when a cold breeze blew a few orange leafs past his feet. „Now we have to wait."

* * *

In a fancy flat on the thirteenth floor of one of Castelia City's skyscrapers, Lack-Two sat alone on his sofa in front of a glass table. On it was a chessboard that almost looked like a game could be started, apart from the first white pawn having already been moved. Next to it lay a blue Xtransceiver.

Complete silence filled the room, just the way its owner liked it. He had his eyes closed and his hands folded, resting his elbows on his thighs. Neither the magnificent view outside his window nor the huge television or the even larger bookshelf inside his living room tempted him once he sunk deep in thought.

Only three things could disrupt him then: the doorbell, the alarm set for when Unova's evening news would air and the ringing of his communication device. In this case, it was the latter.

He picked up within two seconds. „Inspector Lack-Two speaking, what's the matter?", he answered the call.

„Colonel Looker, Sir. Captain Leo from the Aspertia unit just reported to us that they found what appears to be a hideout of Team Plasma near the Virbank Complex", the voice of his older colleague resounded.

„I'll be on my way there immediately. Bring Hugh with you", his superior ordered before hanging up and putting the Xtransceiver in his bag.

Then the young man straightened himself. „Finally", he said with a certain kind of relief in his voice, taking a black pawn and moving it forward. Afterwards, he left his apartment with fast steps on his way to the Prime Pier in the harbor, where the Police Department's boat was waiting.

* * *

Rosa immediately recognized the three men walking down the street towards them as the team they had waited for. It was probably just because she had been looking for them, but she also felt like inconspicuousness had not been these people's first priority when choosing an attire.

Going ahead was a tall young man, probably not much older than her. His knee-length black coat, which he wore above a white buttoned shirt, was not even the most noticeable thing about him, rather it were his maroon eyes. They seemed to be scanning the entire environment already, but at the same time, she felt like they pierced directly through her. His hair left an impression, too – it had a similar color to hers, only a little darker, and it was messy in a way that really made it hard to tell whether he styled it like that or just never treated it at all. He was altogether the type of good-looking person superficial girls would go into raptures about.

Leo walked towards him eagerly. „Inspector Lack-Two, always a pleasure to meet you", he greeted his old friend.

„The pleasure is all mine. It's been too long", Lack-Two replied. With that, his courtesy ended. „What have you found?"

The Captain was used to him getting down to business fast and adapted to it. „The symbol of Team Plasma is on one of the boxes in this warehouse over there", he informed him.

„Alright, Leo. Lead my Deputy inside and show him the object in question, he'll photograph it for us", the Inspector ordered with a nod at the man to his right, who wore a blue coat of equal length to his own above a red jersey. He was even taller than his superior and had dark blue hair that reminded Rosa of a blowfish. „And Hugh, please refrain from touching anything." So the Deputy Inspector's name was Hugh.

Said man sighed in annoyance. „I'm in no way as clumsy as you're pretending, as I keep reminding you."

Lack-Two just ignored his words. He turned towards the man on his left, who was about ten years older than the other two. His choice of clothing was a brown trench coat, and seeing all three of them wear long coats was what made it look a bit curious. „Looker, get in touch with the local forensics, I want to know whose fingerprints are on that box."

„I'm on it, Sir", the Colonel agreed and left the scene.

Still, the Inspector wasn't finished. „In the meantime, I'll talk with the officer in charge of the case. Who would that be?"

Hearing his words, said woman already stepped towards him, relieving Leo of pointing towards her. „Detective Rosa White, Inspector. Rosa, this is Detective Inspector Lack-Two from Castelia", he introduced them, before leaving together with Hugh as he had been instructed.

„Pleased to make your acquaintance, Sir", Rosa said, trying to sound as upright as possible. She held out her hand for him to shake.

However, he just looked at it absentmindedly. „White...", he murmured. His glance, which had pierced through her a short time ago, now seemed to go through her like she wasn't there.

„Sorry, have you met my family before?", the young woman asked, a little insulted that he rejected her handshake.

The first thing anyone would tell about the Inspector was that he never slipped up. Some even called him Mr Perfect, in part to mock at him, but in part because he just always appeared like that. Nobody really knew why he would allow such a shabby nickname to stay once he finished his studies, that was just the way things were. Mr Perfect would never slip up.

Within the next second, Lack-Two was back to normal and pretended nothing had happened. Luckily, nobody dared mentioning it if he himself covered these moments up. „Please give me the details of the case, Detective", he moved on.

Rosa was sure she didn't like the man in front of her, but she didn't dare mentioning his slip-up, considering that to be unwise for her position So instead she did as he asked. „So, about a month ago a series of murders took place here in Virbank." The young Detective ran him through the case in great detail, showing a good feel for what could be important to him.

At last, she arrived at the events of the current day. „The evidence we collected was mostly circumstantial, therefore I concentrated on searching the murder weapon. I checked the places our prime suspect had been to and deducted that he hid it somewhere in this warehouse. Probably inside one of the crates I wanted to check when the Captain ordered us to withdraw because he found the symbol. There had been no traces of Team Plasma being involved until today."

These words ended her report. The Inspector had followed her explanation attentively. „Very good, thank you", he acknowledged her work. Looking at her, he knew she wasn't satisfied at once. Not because he had such a great knowledge of human nature, though, anybody might have seen that. „Is there anything else on your mind?"

„With all due respect, Inspector", she started. Behind her, she heard Hugh and Leo coming back. Suddenly she felt pretty sure the man in front of her would care little about her effort in this investigation, and it would not be worth trying to persuade him that she should keep the case. But this was the last chance she could get, so she had to go through with it. „I worked very hard to bring this serial killer to justice, and I'm close to getting it done. This is important to me, and it would only be appropriate to let me finish it. I have trouble accepting your unit is supposed to jump in now", she stated her matter.

His facial expression didn't change. He still paid attention to her every word and the subtext behind it. „I understand. There's a simple solution, then", the Inspector claimed, earning surprised reactions from everyone around.

„There is?", Captain Leo inquired, his eyes widened.

Lack-Two raised his head, maybe amazed that nobody else thought of it. „Change departments", he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Rosa thought she heard him wrong at first, then he thought it was his idea of a joke. „Really? Do I need a long coat to be accepted into the group", she returned sarcastically.

„He doesn't have that kind of humor, Detective", Hugh informed her drily, already on the brink of anger. „Lack-Two, you can't just invite her like that."

The Inspector shrugged. „Why can't I?", he wanted to know. Apparently, his Deputy was lacking an answer, so he turned towards Rosa again. „Right now, I put the offer out. I won't try to talk you into something, you see the advantages yourself. Join us, keep the case, rise in rank."

The young woman was at a loss of words. Was it really that simple? How had she made such an impression on him? Oh, of course...

„So the main unit of Unova just engages people because they look pretty now?", the taller man spoke out what the Detective had been thinking.

However, Lack-Two just stiffened his lips. „Oh, you think she's pretty? I didn't notice, but you sure have an eye for that.", he rebutted the claim.

Hugh groaned. „I really couldn't care less for women, you know that-"

And his Inspector didn't even let him end that sentence. „Great, then we're in agreement. Detective, if you want to take the opportunity, just apply for an interview with our superintendent soon, I'll complete all the formalities for you", he offered.

Still, Rosa couldn't find any words to respond in her bewilderment. Looker relieved her of the duty to keep searching for them. „Sir, the forensics has started working, they promised they'd have the results for us tomorrow."

„Good", Lack-Two approved, „then we'll be back for them. Now let's return to the headquarters and get started on the paperwork. Hugh, can you show me the photos on the way?"

The Deputy nodded as he and Looker were already walking down the streets again. „Sure", he agreed.

Their leader turned around one more time. „And Detective..."

„Yeah?", the addressed managed to answer.

„Go back in there and get the murder weapon you were looking for, please."

* * *

When the three officers arrived in the police station of Castelia again, everyone looked at them like they were the strangest thing they had seen all day. If those people would not work with Lack-Two, Hugh and Looker full-time, they probably would be, but under the circumstances, this was not normal.

The Deputy Inspector felt very uncomfortable being stared at like that. „Nothing to see here, get back to your work", he snorted angrily.

A woman sitting at Lack-Two's desk cleared her throat. The owner of the workspace didn't like anyone other than himself using it, but Bianca was one of the few persons he wouldn't drive away. „The Superintendent wants to see you, Lack-Two. She sounded slightly incensed", she informed him.

Without saying a word, the addressed picked up speed and made his way towards the department's biggest bureau. It was located on the highest floor and had a direct view on the city's market square. The receptionist waved him on without hesitation. He knocked on the ornate door and it opened automatically for him.

„Inspector, thank you for coming. Please take a seat", Superintendent Anabel greeted him. She looked calm as usual, sitting in her tall chair behind her desk and gesturing for him to settle opposite to her. However, the way she passed her unoccupied hand over her brow, stroking her violet hair, told him that she was at least agitated.

Lack-Two sank into the chair. He hated comfortable chairs, because it was a lot harder to stay focused in them. Obviously, a comfortable chair had been chosen on purpose for this room to put people talking to the Superintendent at a disadvantage. It would always be favorable to make your counterpart feel comfortable. He wouldn't fall for it. „Which occasion do I have to thank for the honor", he inquired.

Anabel picked up a piece of paper and looked at it as if she would read it again. „I recently received this letter of resignation. It was submitted by Miss Sides", she said. Dissatisfied with his lack of response, she laid down the paper and looked him in the eyes. „Your mentee", she added.

„Most regrettable", the Inspector muttered, avoiding her gaze.

His superior slowly shook her head. „You don't have an ounce of regret", she observed. Her tone got sharper with every word.

Letting out a sigh, Lack-Two finally returned her gaze. A mistake, as it turned out. „I can't do anything about the fact that they don't like me", he said. Yes, 'they', that was the problem – Miss Sides had been his third mentee resigning within a short amount of time. „You can't expect me to put on an act the entire time they're around."

„And that's where you're unbearably selfish", the Superintendent pointed out. Again, he didn't react, so she felt she had to explain it further. „Alder is going to retire next summer, and if I want to replace him as Unova's Chief of Police, my own succession has to be secured. And you can't become Superintendent without ever having successfully trained a mentee."

Now the young man just rolled his eyes. „Then why don't you give the job to Hugh? Or Looker? Or literally anyone who actually wants it?"

Anabel hit the table with her fist. He had never seen her do that. Behind her, two birds flew away from the window frightened. „I have preferred you in every situation. I have helped you to rise in ranks almost as fast as I worked my own way up. You know how it looks when you refuse now. You embarrass me", she expressed her disapproval.

An unpleasant break arose. The Inspector felt comfortable with his current rank, but he knew what he had embarked on deliberately with the Superintendent's support. Hesitantly, he started to speak again: „You're right."

„I don't know whether I have ever heard these words coming out of your mouth before", she said, not pleased with just that admission.

„That's why I already took care of it", Lack-Two claimed. Anabel raised her eyebrows, looking at him surprised as well as expectantly. He waited for her to say something for a moment. When she didn't do so, he went on. „Within the next few days, an aspiring Detective from the Aspertia unit will ask for an Interview with you to start working here. She is the only one I consider to have enough ambition and... stamina to keep being my mentee. I'll fill out all the forms for her, so she can start right away, that way she'll be finished in time."

His superior didn't even try to hide her bafflement. „Well, I hope this works out the way you're planning", she said after a while.

Lack-Two nodded. „Am I free to go, then?", he asked, less polite than he intended.

„Yes, you can leave", Anabel granted him.

He stood up and walked towards the door while she turned her chair to face the window. Hustle and bustle filled the marketplace, as it was rush hour by now. „I'm trying to be a little less selfish", the Inspector's voice brought her back from the realm of thought. He looked at the corridor, she looked at the glass, their backs turned at each other. „It's just hard to find the right drive for that." Then he left her alone.

A minute later, he reached his desk again. Bianca was still occupying it. The young forensic scientist had left her green cap at the hatstand, bestowing the seldom favor of seeing her blonde hair open on Lack-Two. On the computer screen behind her, the member files of the Aspertia City Police Department were displayed. „Quite the catch you got there", she said with a grin while pointing at a picture of Rosa.

„Hugh told you", Lack-Two suspected, gesturing for her to leave his chair. She didn't move.

„I understand why you'd fall for her", Bianca continued, pretending he hadn't said anything.

He admitted defeat and sat down on the bench for clients. „Nobody will ever believe me, but I did not choose her because of her looks", he stated.

The woman made it look like she was astonished. „Really? Then there's still hope for me?", she asked half-jokingly, changing her facial expression to a playful smile. She knew it was wasted on the man in front of her, but at least she could amuse him that way. She was one of the few people who would actually go through the trouble of amusing him.

Lack-Two grinned quietly to himself in a way only he could – without smiling. „If you're looking for honest hope, I'd recommend you talk with Mr Cheren", he advised.

„Yes, you keep saying that", Bianca laughed. Then she stood up and placed herself directly next to the Inspector. „So why did you recruit her then?"

He jumped up at once and saved his own chair again. „That remains my secret", he insisted.

With a moan, the forensic followed him and grabbed the armrests of his seats, leaning in close. „Come on, whom else would you tell it?", she questioned. Their faces were close enough for a kiss, and suddenly she wondered whether anyone had ever kissed these lips.

Yes, whom else would he tell it? Well, there was only one person, and despite the fact that Bianca was the only one he'd call a good friend, that person wasn't her. He held perfectly still as she brought her face closer to his, because he couldn't think of any other way to react.

Somebody knocking at the door disrupted them. „Too bad", the young woman murmured, and pulled back.

„Come in, please", Lack-Two said loud enough for their guest to hear him.

It was Professor Juniper, the chief of the Castelia City Police Department's forensics and Bianca's direct superior, who entered the bureau. „I'm very sorry to interrupt you two", she apologized, „but I need an assistant for the analysis. Would you join me, Bianca?"

„Of course", the addressed agreed, „I'll get back to you later, Lack." She smiled enthusiastically and waved at the Inspector before leaving with her mentor.

Once they were gone, he was alone again, and devoted himself to the files on his desk that had to be filled out or reorganized, enjoying the silence in his room and having something to work on. He didn't notice his computer screen still displaying the picture.

* * *

A week later, Rosa found herself sitting on a bench of the boat that travelled between Virbank and Castelia. She had left Unova's south-western isle before, but only by plain, which meant she never got to be in a city as big as the gigantic port. Now she would do so for the first time, and it would be in order to have some kind of job interview – to say she was nervous would have been an understatement.

When she started to feel like watching the open sea wouldn't help her stomach too much, the young woman decided to read in her book until they would arrive. But to her dismay, it wasn't in her backpack. „Ugh, please don't say I left it in my suitcase...", she sighed to herself, knowing that was what had happened. Only a short amount of time was wasted by being annoyed about this, then she decided the ride should still be long enough for her to go get the book from the cargo hold and read a chapter afterwards.

She stood up and walked past a number of other passengers before reaching the stairs leading into the ship's belly. Maybe it was due to her profession that she paid a little attention to the faces she came across. The only thing conspicuous about them seemed to be how they stared at her like somebody moving was the most amazing sight they had seen all day.

Once she arrived at her destination, it surprised the Detective how much luggage was stored in this cargo hold. How many passengers were actually on this ship? What surprised her even more was that she had not been the first to come down here during the crossing. A tall young man with dark brown hair and a black jacket stood close to the entrance and rummaged through his bag.

At first, she thought he had just seen that man upstairs, however she quickly dismissed the idea since he couldn't have passed her at any point. Not wanting to disturb him, she looked for her own suitcase. The crew had stored it on top of a lot of others, leaving it in a particularly high spot. She tried her hardest, but couldn't reach it. That left her with two options – getting help or giving up – and she had never been good at the latter.

„Excuse me, Sir, could you help me for a second?", she asked the man who was down there with her a minute later. With apparent reluctance but no protest, he came to her aid, and soon he let her stand on his shoulders, so she could reach her stuff.

Rosa didn't realize what lead to the man falling, she only knew he did because she suddenly lost her stance and landed on top of his back. „I'm so sorry!", she quickly apologized, „are you-"

Then she stopped. As she stood up, the woman noticed a card that had slipped out of his big pocket when he had fallen. It immediately caught her eye because it had a small logo of Team Plasma on it in the upper right corner. She wasted no time and grabbed it while he still tried to pull himself up with his back turned on her.

The man, who apparently was a member of Team Plasma, groaned. However, once he faced her again, he said „It's okay, as long as you have your suitcase now." With that, he stepped past her and moved towards the exit. „I'll go back upstairs", he took his leave.

Pondering whether she should confront the criminal right here and now, Rosa quickly saw the gun at the back of his belt. She had a service weapon herself, but a shoot-out was definitely not in her interest. So she knelt down and took her time fishing her book out of the suitcase, already thinking about how to approach her target.

At this time, her mind made the connection that the man was the Team Plasma member responsible for smuggling the crates with the coat of arms on them into the warehouse in Virbank. He was now wanted and tried to get away as far as possible from the crime scene. There had been no warnings by the Castelia Police, thus she assumed they didn't know about this.

A bright idea came up in her mind when she crossed the bag he had rooted through on her way out. She considered the ways that plan could turn out and decided it was her best shot to make sure she could arrest her target. So she took his suitcase with her when climbing the stairs again.

Having returned to the deck, she first let her gaze wander through the rows of seats until she spotted the man she had met earlier. He sat on a bench she would cross anyway on her way to her own. The Detective calmly walked over to him and tapped on his shoulder. „Sir, you forgot your luggage", she claimed, and quickly handed the bag over to him in a way he had to receive it with both hands while he was still taken aback.

Some people looked across at them, but Rosa couldn't care for them any longer. Both of the man's hands were occupied, therefore he had no way to resist when she drew her gun. „In the name of the law, you are hereby arrested under suspicion of belonging to an illegal organization", she recited. His facial expression told her he was overwhelmed. He sure should be, she thought. Everyone else in the area stared at them now. Maybe she should have watched the crowd a little better, than she could have reacted to the danger approaching.

„Miss White, you clearly misjudged the situation. Can I kindly ask you to stop pointing your weapon at me?", her counterpart whispered once he had adjusted to what was going on.

Rosa was probably more bewildered now than the man had been when she had cornered him. It didn't move her to let him of the hook, but she still wondered. „How do you know my na-", she started the question. However, she stopped as she felt somebody holding a weapon at her back.

„I'd like to have my suitcase back, if you don't mind", the person behind her spoke. She only saw him in the corner of her eye, but his voice made it clear to her: This was the man she had just seen downstairs.

Her first thought was that they were twins, but that was unlikely since they were too similar considering they apparently weren't working together. Rather, it was someone impersonating as her target whom she had just threatened, and the man threatening her now was the member of Team Plasma. How that deduction could help her, she didn't know.

The man on the bench slowly stood up, still holding the bag. He slightly turned to face his spitting image. „No", he said with determination.

„Don't think I won't shoot her", the member of Team Plasma exclaimed, tightly gripping his gun.

The detective saw the man in front of her raise his eyebrows. „I'd like to see you try", was his response.

She very much did not like to see him try. In her mind she ran through her options on how to disarm the foe without allowing the other to draw his own weapon. While she still did so, he just pulled the trigger.

„Then watch this", the aggressor said confidently. There was no sound of a bullet, no lightning object coming towards her – there was no shot.

Everyone in the room looked at how he desperately pulled the trigger time and again, knowing in his heart of hearts it wouldn't work. „Ammunition might be helpful next time", his doppelgänger said. The way he gloated told all people paying attention he got rid of the ammunition himself. Then he pulled out a police badge from his pocket and showed it to Rosa. „Now, Detective, do you want to have the honor of arresting him?"

Rosa's memory of how the actual arrest proceeded was a little hazy. However, she would never forget her first time seeing the frontage of Castelia City on the horizon about half an hour later. Standing on the galion, she counted five huge piers protruding from the harbor. In comparison to their steamboat, the container ships docking there seemed enormous. Still, they were nothing next to the terrace front behind them. She had already noticed when checking on possible apartments to rent that there were no small houses in this town, only skyscrapers, one towering the other.

„You're enjoying the view", Lack-Two stated, calmly approaching her from behind, now looking like himself again. His words were a remark instead of a question.

The Detective turned towards him, since she learned to carefully keep an eye on him whenever he was around to not miss his tricks playing out again. „It's magnificent", she agreed.

He didn't really care, though. „You should collect some local knowledge as fast as possible. It will be necessary to work here", the Inspector advised. A pause followed, since there was no fitting response to that.

It was only after the ship's captain told them by loudspeaker that the arrival was just a few minutes away when Rosa dared to inquire him what had been on her mind the entire time since the arrest. „Sir, if I may ask, how did you remove that criminal's bullets from his gun?"

„I exchanged his weapon with my own, unloaded one when he was talking with the captain to get a ticket", the young man explained, shrugging like it was child's play. „The intervention has been carefully planned for a while now. I regret not having prepared for you being present and taking rapid action. How did you know he was a fugitive?"

„Oh, he dropped this in the cargo hold", the young woman revealed and pulled out the card she had picked up. „It has the logo of Team Plasma on it, I recognized it from the crates in the warehouse."

Lack-Two examined it admiringly and received it as soon as she reached it out. „Thank you. I've been wanting to get my hand on one of these for quite some time now."

„What is it, exactly?", Rosa wondered.

„An invitation", he simply responded.

She wasn't quite satisfied with that answer, a feeling she had coming up a lot when in the presence of the Inspector. But since he didn't say more, she knew asking further would have been pointless, as he may have told her all she needed to know in the first go.

He had a little trouble averting his gaze from the item before finally pocketing it and looking at his counterpart again. „Your plan with the suitcase was pretty impressive. It would have almost worked", he pointed out.

The Detective smiled a little. „Thank you, Sir", she said. Maybe he could be nice after all? It did not last long, though.

„That was no praise", he clarified, „'Almost' is what gets you killed." The sudden oppressive atmosphere completely drove out any lighthearted feelings that might have just come up. „I expect better of you in the future."

Those were the words he left her with before he left to secure there would be no problems when the captured criminal was led away. He had said 'in the future' and she just hoped to have as little to do with him as possible in this future, knowing this might turn out to be slightly harder if he became her direct superior. Still, she could always hope... At least the sight of the gigantic Castelia City coming closer gave her the feeling high hopes could pay off quite nicely.

* * *

On the outside, the Police Department of Unova's greatest trading city was not that different from the surrounding buildings, aside from the neon letters on the front. It was early morning in autumn when Rosa arrived there for her interview the day after her troublesome crossing, so the letters were still illuminated. A pleasantly mild mix of morning air and sea air filled the mainly empty market square in front of the structure.

The Detective had slept pretty well in the hotel, however her nervousness had only grown. She was not usually the type who would be held back by such feelings, still she knew the importance of the pending talk for her career path. Thus, it was not surprising she entered the agency twenty minutes early and reported to the reception. A young woman, likely at the same age as her, came in shortly after and lined up behind her.

„Excuse me, Miss, my name is Rosa White, I'm scheduled for the aptitude test", she introduced herself to the receptionist.

Said man, however, looked on her computer screen for a moment before raising an eyebrow. „Today's aptitude test has been cancelled for you, Miss White", he said slowly.

„Oh!", the woman behind them drew their attention on her before the guest had time to be shocked or wonder why her test wouldn't take place. „Sorry, Miss White, right? Haven't you received the message our Superintendent sent?" The questioning look she earned told her that Rosa had not yet checked her mailbox. „It was our main subject of discussion, she considers your success yesterday as enough to prove your suitability, so you only have to go through the interview."

The addressed was still somehow overwhelmed by her words. „My success?", she inquired.

Her counterpart laughed lightly. „The arrest of a wanted Team Plasma member, obviously", she explained.

„Ah, I see...", the Detective mouthed. So Lack-Two had given her the credit for that. Had he mentioned her original slip-up, too?

„I'm Bianca, by the way", the other woman introduced herself and held out her hand for Rosa to shake.

An offer she gladly took. „Nice to meet you. Are you a Detective here?", she wanted to know.

„Sadly not", the blonde admitted. „I wanted to be one when I was younger, but I just wasn't cut out for that. Science is more my metier, so I eventually decided to become a forensic scientist. That way, I can still help to solve crimes while also doing what I'm good at."

Rosa was now smiling again. „That sounds nice. I-", she started, only to be interrupted by the receptionist.

„Miss White, I found your new appointment. The Superintendent will welcome you in her bureau within the next hour. You can wait in the recreation room on the top floor", he informed her.

The Detective straightened the strap of her back and turned towards the elevator. „Thank you, Sir", she said, before looking at Bianca again.

„I should get going as well", she realized, and stepped forward to the counter. „Forensic Scientist Bianca reporting for duty."

The receptionist nodded. „I'll take care of your registration", he promised.

Then the two women walked together to the elevator, where Bianca said goodbye her new friend. „I hope I'll see you again later. Good luck with your interview!", she said before leaving Rosa alone.

It was only thirty minutes the Detective had to wait, not sixty, until she was brought into the office of Castelia's Superintendent. She had expected to be interviewed by a row of critical administrators, but once she entered the room through the automatically opening door, it was just one smiling woman welcoming her. Somehow she found that off-putting, and the fact that this woman was wearing a black business suit warned her not to get comfortable.

„Thank you for coming, Miss White", the Superintendent greeted her, „my name is Anabel. I'm pleased to finally meet you."

They had the obligatory handshake before Rosa sat down in the chair she was offered. She immediately felt comfortable in that chair. „Thanks for having me", she replied.

Anabel then picked up a stack of papers and pretended to skim through them. „I have to congratulate you on bringing the Virbank murderer to justice. And the member of Team Plasma just yesterday. I think I'm right to assume further proof for your skills isn't necessary."

„This all came a little fast for me, I'm just doing my best to adjust", the Detective said. It was obvious her heart wasn't really in this answer. She eyed the report her counterpart was holding carefully, wondering what the Inspector had written and how much of what had been going on was actually known to anyone else. It appeared as if the Superintendent truly admired her accomplishments, so had she been lied to, or was she pretending herself?

If she was pretending, she was pretending very well. „Fine, then let's start with the basics", she suggested, „Tell me about yourself."

It must have been about half an hour the two of them spent talking. Rosa soon discovered the inviting smile was just Anabel's version of a poker face. Nonetheless, it seemed the interview was going rather well. She seemed at least satisfied with all the answers the applicant gave her.

„Alright, we're almost done", the Superintendent just indicated. „Why don't you tell me what your ambition in this job is? How far would you like to go?"

The Detective pondered on how to best phrase her response for a second. „My primary aim is to help people, and I think a higher rank, or in this case a more influential department, would give me more possibilities to do that. Therefore, I'm open for every opportunity to be promoted, hoping it will be for the benefit of as many victims as possible", she stated.

Her counterpart finished her notes and put aside her pencil. „That should suffice. You fulfill all the requirements and convince with your ideals and personality. I'm happy to offer you a place in our unit, Miss White."

Suddenly it felt like a big weight fell off Rosa's shoulders. She had actually made it. „Thank you, Superintendent, I will not disappoint you", she said, unable to hold bag a big smile.

Anabel chuckled a little at her reaction. „Only a few formalities I have to inform you about before you can go." Then she paused so her new subordinate could focus again. „The first day of September is going to be your official starting date, but if you need a few more days to move to Castelia, that should be fine. Since you're not replacing any of the current members of our department, we'll bring you in trough our mentee program. You'll be working in the office of a leading Detective for your first year or until you manually cancel the partnership, which is going to be possible as soon as you've got at least one promotion."

„I understand", the younger woman agreed to the conditions.

„There would normally be some forms for you to fill out, but your new mentor has already taken care of most of them, as far as I can see", the Superintendent informed her. And suddenly Rosa had a horrible feeling of whom that mentor may be. One that would soon be confirmed. „Inspector Lack-Two will be responsible for you from now on."

The Detective sank a little in her chair. „And there is nobody else who could be my mentor?", she asked quietly, almost like she hoped Anabel wouldn't hear it.

She did, though. „I'm afraid there isn't, that's not how it works", she said. Her tone of voice made it sound like an apology. Considering everything she knew about the Inspector, it might have just been one.

„Is there anything else I need to know?", Rosa quickly inquired, hoping to move on as fast as possible.

The Superintendent did her that favor. „Yes, one last thing. The Inspector requested for you to receive a code name like himself. We decided for Whi-Two, in case that's fine with you. We would appreciate it if you use it whenever you do something related to your work. It serves your personal protection, and the protection of your friends and family."

„Whi-Two, hm?" This surprised the Detective, since such a thing had never been necessary during her work in Aspertia. It wasn't a name she liked thus much, either, however if both the Superintendent and the Inspector considered this helpful, she would accept it. There was one question she had to ask, though. „Who was Whi-One, then?"

At that, Anabel truly smiled. Rosa immediately saw the difference between this smile and her poker face. „Please don't view this as us having too great expectations for you, but rather us being very hopeful for you to go far. Whi-One was me." And after that revelation, Whi-Two really didn't know what else to say. Just like her first impression of Castelia City, she would always remember the Superintendent's honest smile as she said that last sentence.

* * *

„'I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when'-" A bell interrupted Lack-Two in his sentence, so he closed the book he was reading out of. „Well, you'll get the answer to that next time."

The children of the after-school care center crowded around him mourned in disappointment and stood up to meet with their parents or older siblings.

Kathy stayed with her substitute carer the longest. „And you really don't wanna tell me what comes next?", she asked relentlessly while he put his belongings back in his back.

„You're sure the kids aren't too young for this story?", asked Hugh, who entered the room when he noticed his little sister wasn't coming out.

Lack-Two only answered once he had stood up. His partner viewed this as an excuse for him to take time for thinking up a response. „They seem to like it, just ask your sister. And if they don't understand something, they can always ask", he claimed.

Hugh shook his head. „I don't doubt that they understand it, that's not the point."

„I'm only here to do Mr Bronius a favor, but if you want to discuss this with him, be my guest", the Inspector reminded his subordinate.

The latter returned a sigh. „Of course this is about our work. Why did I think you actually care about children?"

Nobody liked to be accused of disliking children, so even Kathy, who followed their conversation attentively even though she only understood a small part of it, expected Lack-Two to rebuff this assertion. But he just skipped over it. „Caring about our work is a good thing, you shouldn't portray it otherwise."

At that, the taller man noticed the pointlessness of the chat and broke it off. „Come on, sis, we have to leave now", he told Kathy. She finally picked up her backpack and rushed over to him.

„We can take my car, I'm headed for the same direction", the Inspector offered, following the two of them on their way out.

Somehow Hugh suspected that wasn't the only reason. „Why the sudden generosity?", he wanted to know.

The answer to that came quickly: „You're driving", Lack-Two determined.

„Ah, so you were just looking for a chauffeur." That made a lot more sense to the Deputy.

His counterpart opened his vehicle with the key and gestured for Kathy take place on the back bench. „I wasn't looking for one, I found one", he corrected his colleague as he sat down on the passenger seat. When he heard his sister laugh at this rebuttal, Hugh admitted defeat.

He drove them through the traffic that always filled the streets of Castelia around closing time. Since he couldn't make headway fast anyway when he passed Narrow Street, he was slow enough to recognize Leo standing next to a moving truck. „Mind if I hold here for a second?", he asked his co-driver.

Lack-Two spotted their old acquaintance as well and had a premonition of what would happen. „Feel free", he accepted the proposal, sounding as indifferent as most people knew he would never be.

While Hugh pulled into a parking space, Rosa stepped out of the building Leo was waiting in front of. „I think that's everything. Thanks so much for your help, Captain. I couldn't have moved here in time without you", she said to her former superior.

„No problem!", the latter asserted. „But I guess you can stop calling me 'Captain'. You probably outrank me by now."

The young woman chuckled. „And even if I did, I think I couldn't re-adapt to that. Make sure Aspertia stays as peaceful as it is, will you?" She thought of her parents for a moment, and how they encouraged her to take this job further away from home.

Leo nodded vigorously. „Of course. Even if that may be a little harder without you." He sighed, however he still smiled proudly. „I would have liked you to stay with us longer, but I always knew this is where you belong. At least make sure Team Plasma is taken care of", he said with a wink.

„Definitely", Rosa agreed. She had yet to find out what the deal with this organization was, still, after all she had seen of them so far, she was determined to reveal that.

„Hey, Leo", Hugh's voice interrupted her thoughts. The two of them turned around to see him walk towards them, Lack-Two and Kathy close behind him. „What brings you here?"

„I've helped Rosa with her move, we're just finished", the Captain responded happily.

Kathy hurried to get a view of the new face. „So you're gonna live here?", she asked inquisitively.

The older woman smiled back at her. „Yes, that's right. I'm going to work with your companions from now on."

„Now that we're all here, would you two like to join us at Cafe Sonata?", her brother offered.

„Yeah, that would be nice", Leo immediately agreed.

„Okay, why not?", Rosa consented.

Only Lack-Two, who still stood a little remote from the others, didn't share their enthusiasm. „I'm going to pass. You can go to the cafe on foot from here, right?", he requested.

Hugh raised an eyebrow. „What, you don't want your new mentee to find out about your drinking problem right away?"

The addressed rolled his eyes and picked a bill out of his wallet. „I can get in a round for you. Have a nice evening", he said before handing it over to his colleague to silence him.

„Likewise, Inspector", Whi-Two dared responding.

Lack-Two glanced at her in an appraising way. „I'll see you tomorrow morning, Detective. At eight o'clock in my office. Don't be late."

With these words, he turned away and went back to his car. While the four of them walked to the cafe down the road together, he drove home alone.

* * *

**A chessboard has 64 tiles, eight ranks and eight files. Over the centuries, countless variants of the classical mental exercise have been devised, however none as popular as the original. Normal games are played with 16 pieces on each side, eight of them pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, a king and a queen. Both players place their figures on the two ranks in front of them, with the queen standing on a tile of her own color. Usually, the one using white figures commences. Everyone can get that far, but when it comes to the first move, the entire game might already be decided.**

* * *

**That's it for the first chapter of Mates and Stalemates, I hope you've grown to like it. I****f that's the case, please consider liking and following the story. I'm especially grateful for reviews, be it concerning the content, my writing style or whatever you feel like talking about, those are my main drive of continuing my work.**

**As I said, it might take me some time to write more, especially now that I'm about to begin my studies. Therefore, I promise the end result is going to be the best I can do, for better or worse. I'm signing off now, have a nice day!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Pawns Upon The Board

**Chapter 2: The Pawns Upon The Board**

* * *

**I'm very happy to present to you the second chapter of this story. A little less preface this time, just a word concerning the rating: There are gunshots in this one, but I definitely won't describe them in graphic detail. I personally don't think there's much to worry about, at least not this early on in the story.**

**My main motivations to keep on writing are three things: Liking my own story, others expressing how they feel about my story and others writing their own stories. I want to thank the kind people who leave reviews for me, you're the best readers I could hope for. And special thanks once again to Leafpuff, who does both of the above wonderfully.**

**Would you look at that, I actually did manage to publish this before the end of 2019. I wish you all a happy new year! Consider this a late christmas gift, I really hope you like it.**

********Standard Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, places or Pokemon itself, and I have no intentions to earn money with this story in any way!********

* * *

Heavy rain poured against the windows loudly when Whi-Two entered her new bureau within the Castelia City police department at eight o'clock, not without knocking at the door first to make sure she wasn't interrupting the Inspector. The autumnal weather had kicked in about an hour ago, so the first thing the Detective did once inside was hanging up her soaking wet anorak on the hall-stand next to her new superior's coat. She noticed the latter garment appeared to be completely dry, but quickly dismissed the logical conclusion to this observation.

„Good morning, Inspector", she greeted him upon approaching the huge desk they were apparently meant to share. Looking around in the room, she found it to be perfectly well-appointed for every kind of work, though the decoration was rather plain. There was nothing personal, only what was necessary to make it look smart. If she had been asked to describe the office in one word, she would have chosen 'orderly'.

Lack-Two appreciated her punctuality with a slow nod at the clock. „Welcome, Detective. Please take a seat", Lack-Two said while pointing at the chair on the opposite side of the table. Only the two computer screens would stop them from constantly being able to look at each other.

His new mentee did as he asked. „Yes, Sir", she agreed and took place on the office chair. It felt strangely uncomfortable, especially compared to the chair she remembered from the Superintendent's room.

„On your desk, you will find a timetable with assignments the board recommends for you", the Inspector then informed her, „however, when I need your assistance, that has priority even outside of office- or field duty." It was easy to deduct that he just didn't like other instances than himself to decide where his subordinate was during work hours, but she didn't blame him for that.

Whi-Two took a moment to skim through the prepared schedule. One thing in particular caught her eye. „I'm supposed to have shooting exercises right now?", she asked insecurely, hoping she wasn't already missing it.

But her superior shook his head. „These are on Fridays as well, once a week is enough. If you actually need to shoot rather than just hold the gun, something already went wrong. Let's concentrate on not getting anything wrong, Detective."

She paid close attention to his words. He was right, at least to her knowledge, since she had not yet been in a situation in which she had to shoot her target. And he made it sound like he was right by talking in a way nobody could argue with.

„So, since you don't have shooting exercises now, you should have time to look through these civil reports with me."

In a way, Whi-Two's work with the Inspector was not that different from what she did in Aspertia. Still, it felt very distinct to her, on the one hand because she didn't know the people notifying them about what they thought to be relevant for the police, on the other hand because the reports concerned a way larger area simply due to the department's sphere of activity being way bigger than her home town.

During the entire two hours in which they concentrated on the matters they could resolve without leaving the office, the water drops kept clashing against the glass next to them. They were equally unaffected by the noise and inwardly admired each other's focus.

Whi-Two used the time to take an overview of the ongoing investigations the unit was conducting, what they were about, how they were linked and which methods were applied. There were more unrelated crimes than in Aspertia, but also more forces to take care of them. She liked the systematic ways Castelia's police officers used to get their results. It was the kind of approach she had wished to see more in her last place of work.

Lack-Two used the time to take an overview of the working methods the young Detective herself used. He felt her behavior differed from the department's usual practices, being less well mapped-out for the sake of remaining open-minded. So he decided to keep a careful eye on what end results she'd achieve in the long run before mentioning it.

Once the last files were handled, the Inspector was satisfied with his observation. „That's enough for now, Detective", he said before standing up.

The young woman expected him to comment on her work, and found herself somehow disappointed when he didn't.

„What's next on your schedule?", he wanted to know instead.

Since, knowing him, any feedback would have probably been negative anyways, she moved on instead of asking for it. „It says 'physical exercises' on the timetable", the Detective read.

With an approving nod, Lack-Two picked up his bag. „In that case, I'll lead you to the gym."

Said hall was on the first floor, around the middle of the building. There were corridors with different rooms at each side, meaning no windows. Whi-Two spotted a show-jumping course, free space for sports and dummies for target practice, which had visibly already been used that day.

Her superior let her do the warm-up on her own. Still, he didn't miss the opportunity to observe the exercises she chose to limber up. Next, he watched how she performed the parkour a few times.

As soon as she was done, he walked over to her again and handed her back the service weapon he had kept for her while she had warmed up. She put it back into the support of her belt. „Your physical fitness is adequate. I want to see you put it to use. While it was clever how you tried to avoid a fight on the boat, show me how you fight if that is not an option", he demanded, stepping towards the floor covering of mats in the corner.

Whi-Two nodded. „As you wish, Sir. How am I supposed to show you?", she wanted to know.

„You'll fight me." For a moment, his words hung up in the air.

The Detective was reluctant to take any sort of action. „You want me to-"

„I'm waiting", he disrupted her to confirm the order.

So she drew back her fist for a blow and aimed for his gut. He caught her arm before she hit. Whi-Two immediately reacted by trying to punch his wrist, but he was once again faster and moved his hand away, so her strike only hit the air. With his evasive action, he slightly put her off balance. Then the Inspector implied a movement of his foot, and she understood that he could have swept her leg at this point if he had wanted to.

However, instead of being taken aback by the loss of her equilibrium, she went with the shift of her posture and used the leg that had already left its position to ram her knee into his pit of the stomach. Lack-Two arched his back in response, which she used to knock him over with the forearm he had to let go of. After he hit the mat, she knelt down, one knee at his right, one in his lap.

Being in the superior position, the Detective drew her gun and pointed it at him. „I win", she proclaimed.

Her mentor shook his head at that. „Not without ammunition", he corrected her.

Whi-Two's eyes widened. Her gun had originally been filled with blanks, but she didn't have to check now to know that he had emptied it while she had done the parkour. Never had the thought of having to examine the ammunition crossed her mind.

„You fell for the trick despite knowing it. Quite disappointing", the Inspector remarked.

Being disappointed herself, the young woman stood up, allowing him to do the same. Not so much angry at his harsh criticism – she had expected nothing else – rather angry at her own rashness which had given him an opportunity to criticize her harshly.

While they were straightening up again, Looker entered the gym with a young female assistant and walked towards them. „I think you did pretty well for the first go", the older man attempted to cheer her up.

„Is our guest ready for questioning, Colonel?", Lack-Two got to business.

„Ready, Sir", his subordinate confirmed, „he is waiting in questioning chamber three."

With a nod of approval, he gestured Whi-Two to follow him. „Well, Detective, the follow-up task after capturing a criminal is interrogating them. You convicted the Team Plasma associate on your way here, it's time you take the next step."

The rooms for questioning were positioned directly above the gym, the Detective found. Her first thought was that one had to be able to hear the shooting exercises from below in these premises, and she wondered whether that could be disturbing or helpful for the officers at work.

Looker took a moment to explain the quality of the rooms to the beginner, describing how the glass built into the wall allowed people on the corridor to look inside while the person in the chamber would only see a mirror. Lack-Two used that time to prepare the tape recorder. Then the three of them went in, and the assistant positioned herself at the window.

At the table in the room sat the member of Team Plasma Rosa had arrested. She took place on the chair opposite to him. He already appeared to be annoyed, but his look made it obvious he knew exactly why he was here. The Colonel kept standing near the doorway to guard it, her mentor chose the seat next to her. He put his piece of equipment between himself and the criminal, activated it and started: "This is the second interrogation of Mitchell Vapor, carried out by Inspector Lack-Two and Detective Whi-Two. The prisoner is on remand for threat of gun violence and affiliation with the illegal organization known as Team Plasma."

Only now, the young woman realized she had not been told what she was supposed to ask for. Clearly there was no need for a confession, and clearly the man had already been questioned before. She didn't know what he had revealed in that first session, and what he had yet to be pumped for. Finding this to be her only option, she looked at Lack-Two and waited for him to begin, showing what information he was after, so she could join in.

He did her that favor. "Let's start easy this time. What were you doing on the boat we arrested you on?"

"I wanted to go on vacation", Mitchell responded without thinking.

"Great, now we know you'll be trying to lie", the Inspector pointed out. "You didn't announce to your colleagues or superiors that you were taking time off."

The criminal was visibly ashamed being seen through thus quickly. "I'm sorry", he sighed.

But that didn't help him. "You're only sorry because you got caught", Whi-Two ascertained immediately, catching her suspect off guard again.

Lack-Two acknowledged her help in breaking through the man's defenses and how fast they succeeded at this together. "One last chance", he went on, "tell us why you were headed for Castelia."

Mitchell felt two unforgiving gazes piercing though him. "I was wanted, I hoped I could escape", he admitted.

"No", the Detective said with a condemnatory tone of voice. She wasn't sure he was lying, however her instincts told her that wasn't all there was to it.

Her superior agreed. "When the police of Castelia City starts an organized search for you, then you don't escape to Castelia City", he considered.

The Team Plasma member was astonished. The police officers understood from his reaction that he only unwillingly confessed his escape attempt in fear of something else coming to light, and was shocked nobody was buying the lie.

"You had another reason to come to this city", Whi-Two found, "and you don't want anyone to know about it. That means it's either about another crime or about Team Plasma."

Knowing more than his mentee, Lack-Two decided to share a little more of what he already discovered. "We know it's the latter, due to the fact that most Team Plasma members we keep under observation traveled here recently."

"If you know all that, what do you need me for?", Mitchell questioned. The two questioners looked at each other. His response was that of a desperate guilty man cornered, and they both knew it.

The Inspector leaned forward. "I want to know what you all come here for. Tell me when and where the meeting will take place", he ordered.

It took the convicted criminal a few seconds to answer, then he came up with something. "But I don't know anything about Team Plasma, why would I?", he claimed.

Whi-Two rolled her eyes at him. "You're really playing that card now?" She had underestimated his desperation.

"Then we are playing this one", Lack-Two said, laying the card Rosa had picked up in the cargo hold on the table. "I am showing him a card with the symbol of Team Plasma on it that we confiscated from him shortly before the arrest", he declared for the tape.

Mitchell turned a little paler, only to then raise his eyebrows. "You didn't confiscate that from me, that isn't mine."

The Inspector didn't waste a second to think about his words. "In that case, I'd really like to know why we found your fingerprints on it", he pointed out, speaking fast and explicitly. His counterpart sank a little in his chair and chose not to respond. The investigation had been thorough.

"We already know you're lying, at least try to be good at it", the female Detective added, hoping to put more pressure on the criminal.

"I-", the latter began, but stopped himself. "I won't say anything else without a lawyer."

Lack-Two sighed and ended the recording with one push of a button. He knew that their hands were basically bound as soon as the interviewee demanded an attorney. Unless their legal advice would include a confession, most criminals never told the police anything again. So he stood up to leave while Looker already opened the door.

Their new member on the team, however, didn't give up yet. She kept looking in Mitchell's eyes and realized he was torn between saving himself and keeping Team Plasma's secrets. In the most empathetic voice she spoke slowly: "The tape recorder is off. If you tell us now, we won't be using it against you, but maybe you can help us save lives. Please, tell us where and when the meeting is going to be."

Complete silence filled the room. Nobody dared to breathe. Looker eyed the member of Team Plasma with rapt attention. Lack-Two allowed his gaze to wander between the man and his mentee thoughtfully. The latter retained eye contact with her captive.

"Five o'clock on Friday afternoon in the city hall", Mitchell spilled out before pressing his lips together to keep himself silent. He sweated a little.

The Detective nodded with a gentle smile. "Thank you. That was the right thing to do", she tried to assure him.

"I'll escort you back to your cell, Mr Vapor", Looker said and directed him out of the room.

His superior waited for Whi-Two to stand up as well and left the chamber behind her. Once the prisoner was out of earshot, he spoke up again. "That's a dangerous way of getting an answer, Detective. We can't use it against him in court without having taped it, the defending counsel may make it look like we pressured him to say that."

The young woman stayed composed. "I figured we should have sufficient evidence against Mr Vapor, and the important thing is that we have the information about the meeting to intervene", she explained her actions.

In response to that, the Inspector nodded slowly, before moments later, the Colonel returned with fast steps. "Sir, we got a call from our squad on standby, they asked for immediate reinforcements", he said.

Reacting as quickly as always, Lack-Two delegated the tasks to his subordinates. "Alright, Looker, take Whi-Two and a team of officers available with you and be on your way", he ordered while turning into the other direction.

"You're not coming with us?", the Detective questioned. She didn't see how he raised an eyebrow after that, since his back was already turned.

The young woman should have known that as always he had a perfect explanation which she wouldn't understand with her little inside knowledge: "I have to discuss what we just found out with Mr Bronius, that's important."

So he just left her with these words. She found herself following the Colonel instead. The assistant that had been present the entire time tagged along. "By the way, Miss, I think you did very well in that fight", she expressed his admiration to the Detective. "I've rarely seen anyone putting the Inspector off balance like that."

The addressed was surprised to be spoken to that way. "Not Miss, just Whi-Two, please. We haven't met before, have we?"

A warm smile was returned to her. "Oh, I'm just Emma. Nice to meet you!", she introduced herself. The more she talked, the more her slight foreign accent came through.

"Well, thanks, Emma. It's nice to meet you, too. But the Inspector still outplayed me easily", she rejected the praise, not wanting to be recognized for a performance she wasn't satisfied with.

"You threw him on your first day. It looked to me like the Inspector didn't see that coming", the assistant insisted.

To Whi-Two, her mentor really didn't seem to be the type that would underestimate anybody. However, her counterpart didn't seem like he made that up either. "Well, I guess you're right", she admitted with a shrug, though she wasn't fully believing it.

* * *

The sound of the clock striking 4 pm was drowned out by a gunshot hitting its target. Castelia's newest Detective held the weapon tightly in her strong hand, eyeing from a short distance how unerring the round had been. After an initial struggle, she finally got a bull's eye.

At the beginning of the shooting exercises, the department's trainer had a lot of tips to give Whi-Two on how to improve her stance, grip and aim. Now that the two hours were almost over, she had scored the second most points in the group. Only Hugh still surpassed her with ease, and he obviously didn't visit the class to learn, rather to stay in practice. Some would joke that he was only there to brag.

"Playtime's over", Lack-Two disrupted the lesson. He had come in silently a quarter of an hour before and had leaned against the wall watching his subordinates train. Whi-Two had asked the Deputy Inspector whether he ever took part in these exercises, and he confirmed her suspicion that he didn't. He couldn't tell her whether it was because he claimed the moral high ground concerning the use of guns or whether he didn't want anyone to see how bad he was at it, though.

"Detective, we've got to get going", the Inspector reminded her.

The Detective didn't exactly thank her superior for making her leave under everyone's gaze. "Yes, Sir", she agreed, not letting her distaste show. He had already cut her lunch break on that day in order for the two of them to make sure everything was prepared for the impending assignment. At least it didn't surprise her that he refused to let a minute slip now.

His way to tell her she should hurry was just going ahead at high speed. He knew by now that he could expect her to follow. "My car is parked near the side entrance, we'll drive to the city hall making a detour so its harder to detect where we're coming from", he explained. By the time he ended that sentence, he had already reached the door they had been headed for.

There had been less rain the previous days, but today the weather proved to be merciless again. The two of them sprinted towards the car hoping not to get too wet. The Inspector didn't wait to take place on the passenger seat. Whi-Two on the other hand stopped in her track once she reached the car. At first, he didn't notice it. Only when reaching for the safety belt he saw her still standing there looking thoroughly sheepish.

After a short sigh, Lack-Two took pity on her and asked. "What's the matter, Detective?"

"You want me to drive?", the addressed inquired as if he hadn't made that obvious.

Her superior just nodded in response. He evidently tried not to let his impatience show, but in his eyes she could clearly see it. Since she didn't move yet, he decided to probe her. "You do have a driver's license", he pointed out. That should have been out of question, since it was required to apply for a job as police officer.

The young woman decided to avoid his examining stare and look at the wet road ahead. "Of course, but I'm really not comfortable when I'm driving. It's even been remarked in my file as a weakness", she admitted.

Then she remembered how surprisingly understanding he had been back when she told him about her discomfiture in Virbank City where they first met. Maybe, she thought, he could surprise her again and help her out.

"You'll have to get over that eventually", he disappointed her, before leaning back in his seat declaring the conversation to be over.

Whi-Two trudged around the car in defeat, opened the front left door and sat down on the driver's seat.

Leo and other former co-workers of hers had relieved her of the duty to drive most of the time, and she went to work by bus both in Aspertia and in her new workplace. The Inspector probably wasn't wrong to assume her problem was mainly a lack of practice or habituation. Despite that, even during her first driving lesson she had already felt uneasy all the way through, and that had never gotten better. Therefore, she had hoped to delay her first time maneuvering through Castelia City's traffic for as long as possible.

The start of the trip went surprisingly well for her. Despite it being close to rush hour and the police headquarters being in the center of town, she was lucky not to get into a congestion. She had a little trouble with permanently staying in the traffic lane, as her co-driver noticed, but wasn't punished for it.

After granting his subordinate a few moments to adjust to the city streets, Lack-Two started giving her directions. "Turn left at the next crossroad", he requested.

In the following minutes, Whi-Two grew more and more certain he chose the maneuvers she was supposed to pull off to torture her. At least nobody could trace back that route without trying hard, she had to give him that.

When they finally reached Gym Street, where the Detective was able to drive straight on for a while until they would reach their destination, she dared asking what she had wanted to address all along. "Sir, I did some research on Team Plasma since I arrived in Castelia, and if you don't mind me asking, I'd like to know what kind of crimes they are wanted for."

Her Inspector raised an eyebrow. "All kinds of crimes", he responded simply. "What made you wonder? You've seen one of them."

"The public only knows Team Plasma as a charity organization", she indicated. "Apparently they did a lot of good a few years ago."

Instead of watching the road ahead, Lack-Two turned his head and stared at the buildings to his right. "Two years ago, to be exact. Yes, they did a lot of good. None of it can make up for the crimes they are committing now", he assured with solemn voice.

Whi-Two gulped a little. "I know that, Sir, obviously. Still, I wonder what made them turn", she admitted, now concentrating more on the cars in front of her to not cause an accident.

"If only I knew...", was her superior's response. The way he said it didn't convince her that he had no idea. It didn't help that he ended the conversation quickly. "You may look for a parking space now."

Once the car was parked, even in a spot partly save from the intransigent rain, Lack-Two made his way to the trunk of his car and pulled out a pair of rather big hats and tried to fit one of them on his head despite his messy hair trying its best to prevent it.

His mentee couldn't help but giggle at the sight. "Sorry, Inspector, but you really don't have the right face for a hat", she tried to justify her uncalled-for behavior.

He sighed in return, still he knew she wasn't wrong with that. "When we enter the hall searching for a seat, some people will inevitably look at us. We need to be able to draw the attention to something other than our faces to make sure we aren't recognized."

"I might have a solution to that problem", Whi-Two offered and grabbed her bag. She rummaged through it for a moment, then threw a large raincoat over to him before slipping a second one on herself. "Considering the weather, it shouldn't be too conspicuous if we wear the hoods, should it?", she added.

At first, her superior raised an eyebrow, inspecting the cover critically. However, he decided to put it on quickly and met his subordinate with an approving nod.

After he had thrown back the hats, the two of them walked over to the city hall's entrance. "Actually, if you're concerned about us being recognized there, why didn't you organize a disguise like the one you had on the steamboat?", the younger Detective questioned along the way.

"Wait and see", was his simple answer to that.

One would hardly recognize the city hall between the huge blocks of rented flats surrounding it if it wasn't for the unique structure of the roof: The right side of the building had been constructed to be about ten feet taller than the other half. That part of the wall jutted out so everyone could spot the advertising sign attached to it even from afar. For over a week now, it had announced the big collaboration show of the idols Nancy and Christoph that was going to taking place there in the first week of the upcoming year.

The square in front of the building complex had been built up for long queues, but only few people at a time wanted to attend the event signposted as 'Lecture on the Future of our Justice System'. Obviously, the organizers just picked a name not too attractive for passers-by in order to lease the premises. The police department's research had revealed that no public advertisements for the meeting had been made, which was conspicuous enough on its own.

Rather quickly, the two officers got to the entrance, finding it guarded by an aged man in a thick brown coat. Whi-Two observed how he looked at the I.D. of the person entering in front of them. The card looked similar to the one she had taken from the grunt she managed to convict. Suddenly she understood why her new superior had said he wanted to get his hands on one of them for a long while, since apparently they were membership identification, or at least permits for this event. The conclusion for her was that they could get into trouble as soon as the doorman would ask for theirs and find they had only one.

She had seldom been as surprised as when Lack-Two walked up to the man and greeted him friendly. "Good evening, Mr Bronius. Thank you for the invitation."

"I'm glad you could arrange to come, Mr Lack", Bronius responded with a smile and a small bow. "Who's your companion?"

Whi-Two didn't exactly know how to respond. She opened her mouth, ready to make something up, but her Inspector didn't give her that chance. "That's Miss Whi, my girlfriend. I hope you don't mind me bringing her along", he introduced her, convincingly faking a concerned voice pretending he was actually worried she would not be let in.

Of course, he never doubted Bronius would say exactly what he then said: "Oh no, that's no problem at all. I hope she will like our new lecture as well."

"I'm sure of it", Rosa managed to express.

The doorman glossed over the card her mentor was showing him quickly enough to not notice that it wasn't his own. For a second she thought she saw Lack-Two smile to Bronius as he returned the bow before going inside. It was the first time, and it sure wasn't genuine.

Lack-Two lowered his chin a little as soon as they were inside lecture hall to make sure the hood would conceal his face better. "We're in. So much for the easy part", he whispered while getting an overview of the room.

"For how long have you planned this?", Whi-Two wanted to know, her head tilted a little towards the entrance where Bronius was standing while following her superior.

He, for once, chose a slower pace, allowing her to keep up, though she probably wasn't the reason for this. "I've been preparing for a while now. It always helps to know your pawns' positions", he said rather casually.

That answer wasn't very satisfying for her. "I really don't like the idea of being here as your pawn", she admitted.

He chose a surprisingly flattering tone of voice for his response. "Now, I'd never use my girlfriend as a pawn, Miss Whi", he assured. "You're my queen, of course." Her cheeks turned bright red. She told herself his intonation made it obvious it was meant as a joke, but at the same time she knew her Inspector wasn't keen on this or any sort of humor.

And while she couldn't help but overthink, the Inspector decided on the seats he wanted them to take. They settled on two chairs next to the left corridor in order to keep an escape route as well as a good view on as much of the hall as possible.

"It'll be too conspicuous if we keep the hoods on any longer", Lack-Two assessed before taking his one off. "But be careful not to look anyone in the face."

"Yes, Sir", Whi-Two affirmed and followed his lead.

He gave a quick glance at the entrance again. "We'd need a better way to keep an eye on what kind of people are entering, though."

Now it was her turn to smile. "I know how this goes", she assured him, pulling a pocket mirror and a make-up bag out of her backpack. While halfheartedly putting on pink lipstick, she observed the doors of the room in the reflection.

This worked for quite some time, and quite a lot of people came in until the staging was about to start. "There's more of them than I expected", the Inspector admitted.

"We can't possibly arrest all of them", his subordinate said a little worried, careful to keep her voice down so nobody could eavesdrop.

He shook his head. "And we don't have to. Just agreeing with Team Plasma's philosophy does not make them criminals. If we can catch a high-ranking member tonight, many of them may be dissuaded from acting on their ideas", he explained.

She slowly put the mirror back inside her bag. "So we're after the one who's going to speak on stage in a few minutes."

Lack-Two didn't answer. He felt a young woman who was standing in the corridor staring at him suspiciously. He tried to look in a different direction so she couldn't see his face directly. However, she saw enough to follow the urge of taking a closer look.

Just looking somewhere else wouldn't save them now, therefore he had to make a decision fast. "I'm sorry", he whispered.

"For wha-", Whi-Two started, only to be cut off in mid-flow by him gently but impetuously pressing his lips against hers. With her eyes wide open in shock, she observed how the woman stopped in her tracks, rolled her eyes and walked past them.

He kept kissing her, maybe for a few seconds longer than necessary, before he was sure they weren't watched anymore. As soon as he pulled back, she slapped him in the face.

She knew he could've stopped her hand if he had wanted to. He let it happen. "Yes, I deserved that", he understood. Then she slapped him again. This time, he panted slightly. "I said sorry, didn't I?"

"Never do that again!", she demanded.

"The show is starting", he said instead of making any promises.

Indeed, the woman who had just stared at them had made her way to the stage and cleared her throat in front of the microphone to silence the crowd. "Excuse me, can I have your attention, please? We would like to begin now."

The lights in the room went of, instead the stage lighting illuminated. It took a shorter amount of time than most had expected for everyone to get quiet.

"Thank you all for coming", she continued. "We all are here today because we've had enough of the wrongs in our society. Because we are driven by the will to change what's been broken for a long time. Welcome with me Sir Zinzolin, who has devoted his life to helping people who feel the same way as we do."

Together with the crowd, the two officers watched how an elderly man with white hair entered the stage. He was wearing a thick violet coat with the symbol of Team Plasma on his chest. His entrance was accompanied by courteous applause.

Zinzolin took his time before he started speaking to look around the audience. Mainly, it seemed, in order to enjoy having everyone's attention. Finally, he began his speech: "I, too, want to thank you. Not just for coming, but for taking the time to observe and see what's broken in the world we live in. You came here today because you understood. That makes you my friends. And I want to take care of my friends the same way you want to take care of those who fell victim to injustice." He made a pause for dramatic effect.

Whi-Two looked at her mentor for a moment. "Their idea is to correct injustice by committing crimes?", she wondered.

"Something like that", he confirmed, but kept himself short since the speaker went on.

The old man started moving around while talking and gestured to different parts of the audience. "We assembled today in hopes of finding an answer to the problems that befall everyone who is unlucky enough to not be preferred by the current status. Let me satisfy your curiosity." Then he stopped moving and just spoke. "We live in a society of law, not a society of justice. Those who achieve good are punished because what they do was forbidden by a book with no knowledge of their situation. Those who do evil walk free because the writers of that book didn't think of the way they commit their deeds. Change is necessary, and let me tell you that change is possible!"

Some members of the audience showed to be energized by his words, and the way Zinzolin grew louder and louder while speaking made it obvious that the same applied to himself. Lack-Two observed this with concern. These people would follow Team Plasma's misguided teachings if the two of them couldn't make an example out of the hostile leader tonight.

"Throughout history, the way laws change has always been the same", the speaker rambled on. "They change through a movement showing that the current laws are imperfect and how exactly they need to be improved. That is Team Plasma's, that is our mission. Do not hesitate to act where you perceive injustice. Do whatever it takes to make it right. And do not stand idly by just because you fear legal consequences. For from now on, Team Plasma will assist you and make sure that your actions will not be found out by the sadly misdirected police. During the last years, we have worked as a charity for all those who have been mistreated by the state's executive power. However, our impact has always been too small. There were so many people who needed help and so few of us. Today, that will change. Today, we are many. And all of you, all of us will accomplish this together!"

The crowd cheered. The Inspector's look darkened. "There's your answer, Detective", he murmured.

Said Detective looked around feeling very uneasy in this large room full of potential criminals. "Yeah, I feel much better now, thanks", she said sarcastically. Her eyes instinctively fell on the doors through which they came in, where she spotted a smiling Bronius.

Zinzolin kept talking for a rather long time, repeating himself a lot with the only difference being new rhetorical devices. His speech didn't draw to a close before he was certain enough everybody in the audience had understood what he offered them.

"And thus, I hope that all of you will have the courage and wisdom to help us in our course and restore justice to all of our poor friends and allies in Unova", he stated after another short breather. "I am sure that together we shall succeed. Let me end on this positive note. My sincere gratitude goes out to you for listening to my words. Have a good evening, and may you be successful when you act on what you've learned."

The two officers faked an enthusiastic clapping as the speaker bathed in the ensuing applause. After everyone's hands had grown tired and he had left the stage, the people slowly started picking up their bags and left the room one after another.

Bronius watched how the hall emptied. Once he recognized Lack-Two and his companion were the last ones not having left their seats, in his good mood he decided to approach them. "Did you enjoy the show, Mr Lack?", he wanted to know.

"Very much so", the addressed responded, finally standing up.

The older man smiled. "Would you like to discuss these ideas with me next Monday?", he offered rather delighted.

The Inspector nodded at first and then pretended to ponder for a moment. "Actually, there's something I'd like to ask Mr Zinzolin right away. Is there any way you could make that possible?"

His counterpart turned a little paler. "I'm afraid I can't do that", he said while gradually shaking his head. "I'm not allowed to let anybody disturb the organizers."

"What a shame", Lack-Two lamented. He pulled out his police badge and a pair of handcuffs. "Because I can't take No for an answer."

In his bafflement, the doorman didn't resist as his hands were cuffed. "I'll let Looker send in the reinforcements now", Whi-Two announced while the arrest was taken care of by her mentor.

"Good, I'll go backstage and get Zinzolin", the latter announced as soon as he was finished. He ran right through the curtain the elder had used for his exit. The room he entered was already empty. There was nothing eye-catching they had left behind. However, he noticed that the little arrow-shaped light above the elevator was glowing.

Only seconds later, Whi-Two watched him rushing back through the door he had just left through. "What's going on?", she questioned.

He didn't waste a minute to stop and explain what he saw. Instead, he immediately headed for the staircase on the left side of the hall. "They're taking the elevator to the roof. We have to intercept them, follow me", he shouted. And before his mentee picked up on his order, he had already left.

At first, the Detective doubted whether she could leave Bronius unguarded, but then came to the conclusion that, with the police forces on their way, his chances of escape were slim enough anyway. When she hurried up the stairs herself, she heard his steps above her. From the noise, she was able to deduce his speed. Never before had she seen anyone run up a staircase thus fast.

On his way up, Lack-Two managed to switch on his Xtransceiver and call Looker. "New developments?", the Colonel asked, getting to the point as quickly as he knew his superior expected of him.

"Our targets are fleeing to the top of the building. I need you to send in a helicopter so we can trap them up there", the Inspector reported.

The older officer nodded. "I'm on it", he confirmed before ending the call the moment his counterpart reached the rooftop.

Due to the right half of the city hall being higher, the staircase ended on the lower of the two platforms. Lack-Two had to watch how Zinzolin and two of his followers, one of them being the previous speaker, exited the elevator on the higher expanse. They were headed for a black helicopter ready for takeoff. The young man hastily searched for a way to get to the other half. Since he found nothing of that sort, he positioned himself at the wall he couldn't pass and waited for his partner to arrive to help her up instead.

Above him, the leader of Team Plasma slipped on the floor, which was still wet from the ongoing rain. His curses echoed through the early night louder than the noise of his body hitting the ground. Whi-Two arrived at the building's top before his supporters had helped him stand up again.

"Over here, I'll lift you up", her mentor called. She understood and sped towards him.

Using his hands and shoulders as steps, she managed to jump on the upper platform. Up there, she was greeted with a gun pointed at her face. "I should have taken care of you two when I saw you in the crowd", the woman who had stared at them earlier muttered. "I won't hesitate a-"

Before she finished her sentence, a bullet pierced precisely through her wrist, causing her to drop her weapon in pain. Looking in the direction the shot had come from, the Detective saw Lack-Two tightly gripping his gun. "This has gone wrong enough. Don't waste time, Detective!", he reprimanded her, which she considered to be his way of saying that he'd give her his backing despite staying behind.

Zinzolin reached his getaway vehicle without having turned around. He did not know what had happened to his pursuers and aid before he had entered the loading space of the helicopter. His shocked expression made it obvious that he was very displeased once he found a service weapon was pointed at him.

"Hands up and get out of the vehicle", Whi-Two ordered with determination in her voice. "If you think we wouldn't shoot, just look at your companion over here." She never actually intended trying to fire her gun, knowing she wasn't as capable of pinpoint aiming as Hugh or the Inspector yet. However, the bluff was good enough to frighten the old man and his accomplice into getting back onto the roof with both arms raised in defeat.

Another helicopter closed in on the city hall, this one having the emblem of Unova's police painted on it. For a short while, the sound of its rotor blades and the pouring rain were the only sounds audible in the area. It was almost like a certain calm ensued around the victorious officers.

The sound of Lack-Two's communication device broke the silence. He picked it up and answered the call. "Sorry for the long wait, Sir, but our helicopter is about to take off now", Looker reported.

It didn't take long until the realization what was going on hit the Inspector. "Detective, take cover!", he screamed.

His voice startled Whi-Two, who was still aiming her weapon at the criminals. Initially, she was just confused by his order, but turning around, seeing his anxious expression, convinced her that he very much meant what he said. She rushed towards the first thing suitable as cover she saw, which was the elevator. At the same time, the second helicopter got close enough to fire its weapons at the two officers.

Countless projectiles hit the ground to their feet. Lack-Two took cover by pressing against the wall separating him from the higher rooftop. His subordinate hid behind the elevator just in time before she would have got caught in the volley.

Zinzolin's resounding laugh drowned out everything else as he stepped back into his getaway machine. Now that no gun was pointed at him, he gestured the pilot to take off. The fake police helicopter kept covering him, and together they vanished into the dark clouds.

The Inspector jumped onto the edge of the roof and gazed after them disgruntled. "They're better equipped than we calculated. Someone with a lot of money at their disposal is behind this", he ruminated. "This failure will come back to haunt us."

Now that the action was over, his mentee got annoyed by constantly getting wetter and donned her raincoat again. "Maybe it's not a complete failure. At least we're not leaving with empty hands", she considered, walking over to the member of Team Plasma he had shot earlier.

After she had secured the enemy's weapon from the ground and tended the wound in the best way she could with her first aid box, her Inspector joined her and placed the grunt under arrest. In the hall below them, the reinforcements took Bronius into custody.

* * *

Lack-Two spent the rest of the day in his office to finish the report on their mission. Whi-Two ended her shift around nine o'clock, leaving only him and Hugh in the facilities.

The latter slowly lost his patience as well. "How about we call it a night now, Lack-Two? The paperwork won't run away, for better or worse", he pointed out when the clock chimed midnight.

"The faster I can submit it, the faster we can call for an increase of aids in the Team Plasma case", his superior returned. "Besides, I never asked you to keep me company."

Hugh sighed. "You know as well as I do that nobody is allowed to be in here alone outside of office hours", he reminded the Inspector.

The addressed didn't look up from his work while answering. "I suppose you have something better to do?"

"Actually, I still have to find someone who can look after my sister while I'm at work next week, now that the after-school care center is without its carer", his Deputy said.

"Do I hear an accusing undertone?" Lack-Two's look changed to a rather curious one, but he still didn't face his counterpart.

But he just shook his head. "Bronius can't stay unpunished just because he does an important job well. As much as I'd love to, I don't think I can reasonably blame it on you that he is a criminal", he admitted.

The younger man's look changed back. "If you can't do it, nobody can."

"Still, everyone else has to deal with the aftermath of his arrest, and instead of doing that I'm here watching over a workaholic", Hugh complained.

The Inspector rolled his eyes. "You didn't have to stay, Whi-Two could've done it if you hadn't insisted on handling it yourself", he reiterated.

"Didn't we agree on not making your new girlfriend work overtime in her first week?", his subordinate murmured.

That finally made Lack-Two glance up. "Maybe that's for the best. She's still not my girlfriend, as I keep reminding you."

"Yeah, right." Hugh stepped towards him. "Perhaps we are just pawns in the great games of you and the Superintendent." Slowly, he raised his hand to his superior's mouth and wiped off a small stain of pink lipstick. "But we're not idiots. And you should give us more credit for that."

While he restored distance between them, he witnessed the seldom event of his counterpart needing some time before finding a good reply. "You're right, Hugh", he finally confessed. "We should call it a night."

* * *

**Pawns are the weakest figures in every game of chess. Their value is mainly increased by there being so many of them, since each player starts out having eight. The game often begins with both sides trying to move their pawns out of the way for the better pieces to actually do something of relevance. If the pawns are for once used to help, their main function is blocking the path for the opponent's figures, eventually dying in the process. They can only move in one direction if it isn't for the rare occasion of getting to beat an enemy. The best thing they can achieve is reaching the last tile of their file to convert into knights or queens, meaning they wouldn't be pawns anymore. Nobody wants to be a pawn upon the board.**

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**That's it for the second chapter of Mates and Stalemates, I hope you enjoyed it. I****f that's the case, please consider liking and following the story. I'm especially grateful for reviews, be it concerning the content, my writing style or whatever you feel like talking about, those are my main drive of continuing my work.**

**My goal for 2020 is to finish at least three chapters of this story. That might sound like a small amount, but now that I've begun my studies, I sadly can't promise more. Considering that, I'll try to make these three the best they can be. That's it from me, I hope you all have an amazing new year!**


	3. Chapter 3: Clearance

**Chapter 3: Clearance**

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**The BW2 arc of the manga actually finished, I still can't quite believe it. Hopefully you liked what we got, and if you aren't satisfied, let's see if we can find a remedy with my new chapter. Now that I've finished my first semester's last exam, finally I can deliver it to you. My current writing schedule says I'm only a few days behind, so I can catch up with the next one, on that front at least I am positive.**

**More important than the time frame is of course the quality, and I am doing my best to keep it up. You're making me very happy with your positive reviews, and of course I try to integrate constructive criticism as well. I always worry I frighten people off with the rating, so here's the obligatory mention that this chapter has a murder investigation, I won't describe any form of violence in detail though.**

**Also I am aware that I am publishing this while the world struggles with a global health crisis, so wherever you live and whatever your stance is on our current situation, I wish you all the best and that you can stay safe and healthy~**

********Standard Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, places or Pokemon itself, and I have no intentions to earn money with this story in any way!********

* * *

Broken glasses, a bag torn open, an ornamental sword and the lifeless body of a young man waited for Whi-Two, Hugh and Lack-Two in the short alley that appeared to be their newest crime scene. The black-haired woman who had found and reported the victim here stood next to him at some distance, visibly uncomfortable. It was early in the morning, the sun hadn't risen yet, no other people were around. A stench of cat litter hung in the air.

"I know that boy", Hugh mumbled once the three of them were close enough. "He's the son of that defense attorney, isn't he?"

"His name's Neil Geoff", the witness clarified. "You must be from the police department."

Whi-Two nodded with a faint smile. "Yes, we are. And you're the one who called us, right, Miss...?", she wanted to know, extending her hand for the woman to shake.

She decided not to do so. Apparently she just wanted to get as far away as possible, but at least she was conscientious enough to cooperate with the law enforcement. "It's Britney. I live opposite to Mrs Geoff. The boy's father died less than a month ago, and now this..."

By that time, Lack-Two had already gained impressions of the scene and cut to the chase: "What have you seen?"

Being taken aback by his bluntness, Britney needed a moment to respond. "Well, not much more than you see now. I haven't touched anything, I don't know if I could..." Whi-Two noticed her shivering at that thought.

"You didn't notice anyone else around?", Hugh questioned, his eyes focused on the end of the narrow passage.

"No, I didn't", the resident woman denied. "Few people use this way at all."

Lack-Two decided not to doubt her testimony for now. "Anything else you want to tell us?", he asked.

She thought for a moment, unsure about whether to say what was on her mind. "I... I don't want to make false accusations, I could be wrong."

"Anything may help us", Whi-Two reassured her.

With a shaking hand, she pointed at the weapon on the ground. "I once saw a similar sword when I visited Ricky Scrag, one of my neighbors", she revealed.

The Detective wanted to thank her, but her superior didn't wait for her. "Then that's our best lead. Hugh, you and Whi-Two will go visit Mrs Geoff and Mr Scrag, I'll wait here for the forensic scientists to arrive."

Hugh rolled his eyes at the Inspector, but ultimately nodded. "Would you be so kind to show us the way, Miss Britney?", he requested.

The addressed agreed and went ahead with the Deputy. Whi-Two took a few steps in their direction, but let herself fall back. "I think you're being too hard on our witnesses, Sir", she allowed herself to judge him.

"Would you still think so if it turned out she's the one who killed the young man?", Lack-Two returned with a stern voice.

Now the young woman hesitated a lot more, but she wasn't willing to recede from her opinion yet. "Shouldn't we assume everyone's innocent until proven guilty?"

"On the contrary", he objected. "That's just the courts' way of thinking. During the investigation we have to assume everyone can be guilty until proven innocent, otherwise we might play into the culprit's hands."

She had known the Castelia unit's way of solving cases was different from that in Aspertia, but instances like these showed her just how different to her new colleagues Captain Leo and the others were. "Still, it wouldn't help to scare her at this stage, would it?", she insisted

He knelt down and started inspecting the bag, not interested in continuing the conversation. "I think my success proves you wrong. Now hurry before you lose sight of them."

Dissatisfied but compliant, she did.

The alleyway took a turn and then proceeded towards a slightly larger street, leading past two gardens and houses, one on each side. "That over there is Mrs Geoff's house." Britney pointed towards the one on their right. "And Mr Scrag lives in that one." She pointed towards the one on their left.

"Thank you, Miss Britney, you've really helped us a lot", Whi-Two expressed her gratitude.

"Certainly", Hugh agreed. "Would you mind telling us which house is yours? Just in case any more questions come up."

The witness had a hard time hiding her malaise. The idea of being involved in this case for a larger amount of time evidently displeased her. "I live right on the other side of the road in the red house. You'll find my name on the doorbell. Now have a good day, officers." She didn't wait for them to see her off before turning around to leave.

After watching her leave for a moment, Hugh turned towards his subordinate again. "We'll have to tell the victim's mother what happened first before we go to that Ricky. Are you ready for this?"

"I guess so", the Detective stated. While they walked up to the front door of the right building, she decided to ask him what was on her mind. "I was wondering... How successful is the Inspector, actually?"

The older officer raised his eyebrows. "I hate to admit it", he said, "but I can't recall a case he hasn't solved."

If it hadn't been true to his knowledge, he wouldn't have asserted it, Whi-Two knew. The opportunity to ring the doorbell saved her from having to answer. She counted the seconds until the door was opened. It were exactly twenty-three.

Mrs Geoff looked rather oblivious when they first laid eyes on her. They could see the blonde in her forties hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night, maybe because she had overworked herself. "Can I help you?", she asked, pretending nothing was wrong. The Detective was surprised at how little the woman was surprised by being visited.

Hugh took it upon himself to start. "My name is Deputy Inspector Hugh Angur, this is Detective Whi-Two. Are you Mrs Geoff?"

"Yes", she responded shortly, "why?"

"You might want to sit down for this", Whi-Two warned with the calmest and most serious voice she could muster. The thought crept up in her mind that she had seen her before, but she couldn't tell where or when, so she dismissed it.

The woman raised her eyebrows. "Have you been sent because of my call?", she wondered, moving a little to the side so the two could enter.

The Detective raised her eyebrows, too. "Your call?"

When the two stepped inside, Mrs Geoff quickly pointed at their shoes. "Please take these off", she requested, "I don't like people wearing shoes in my house."

Both guests thought this woman should get her priorities straight, however they complied with the wish. "Your call?", Hugh repeated while bending down.

"My son hasn't come back from his training center yesterday evening, and I couldn't reach him. I called the police for help", was her explanation.

Since she was already at it, Whi-Two removed her jacket and left it at the hall-stand, then watched Hugh following her example and taking his coat off. For a moment the Detective could look around in the house she was in. Not just the entrance hall was large, she got a peek at the rather luxurious living room, a well-equipped kitchen and decorated stairs. Only her imagination could tell her how much was up there. And how much all of it had to cost. Suddenly the young woman felt a little ashamed of her little flat. Defense attorneys earned a lot of money, she knew, but not enough for this. The husband of the homeowner clearly had worked for a high income as well. If the situation had been less macabre, she would have basked in the bright light reflected by the white walls a little longer.

Hugh's voice brought her attention back to their conversation. "Sorry, we don't know of such a report. However, I am afraid that doesn't make a difference anymore." His look was sincere and sympathetically. The Deputy wasn't known for being induced by compassion, still he knew perfectly well in which moments it was appropriate, his subordinate realized.

No response came from the blonde. Apparently she didn't have a good idea how to react. "We were alarmed this morning by a neighbor of yours. A body has been found not far from here", Whi-Two continued, trying to convey the information in as little steps as possible.

Her worries that the mother couldn't take it seemed to be unfounded, though. "So he's dead", she said slowly, swallowing down deep. The fear both officers had perceived in her once they introduced themselves, which was usual, didn't turn into shock or sadness, which was unusual.

"Yeah, we're afraid so", the Detective admitted. "My condolences."

The Deputy Inspector folded his hands behind his back. "It is very likely that he's been murdered", he revealed, observing how it would affect their counterpart closely.

Mrs Geoff started to tremble a little. "You were right, I should have sat down", she sighed. A cat with white fur loitered out of the living room towards the kitchen, showing not even the slightest amount of interest for the visitors.

"You can still do that. Please, take your time", Whi-Two insisted.

"No, no, it's alright", the older woman signaled her refusal. "I mean, he was just my step-son, we weren't actually related, I can cope with this." It felt more like she was trying to persuade herself of it than the officers.

Since the step-mother said she was fine, Hugh continued with the investigation. "We'll find out who did it, and we hope you can help us with that. Did your son have any enemies?"

That question took Mrs Geoff aback again, apparently. She leaned back against the wall and concentrated on her breathing for a moment. "Maybe at work, I don't know. I imagine workers at the Battle Company didn't like it when he inherited his late father's chairmanship according to his wishes. Or our neighbor, Mr Scrag, the three of us got into a heated argument recently."

"What was that argument about?", Whi-Two wondered.

Another pause occurred, the widow pondered. "He tapped our wire to steal electricity, which lead to a short circuit while Neil was working on his computer", she testified.

Having taken care of civil reports only a few days prior, the Detective tried to recall the case, only to find she couldn't. "Have we received an indictment after that incident?", she wanted to know. Hugh shook his head to signal he hadn't heard about it either.

Regaining her stance, Mrs Geoff managed a weak smile. "Oh, we decided against taking proceedings, none of us really wanted police around." Then the smile turned bitter. "That didn't work well."

The officers shared a look. Hugh was the first to unfold his hands and grab his coat again. "One last thing, surely your fingerprints are to be found on your son's stuff since you live in the same house. It would help us if you could come to the police station to have your fingerprints taken so that if we find traces we can better assign them."

Being familiar with these necessities, she accepted her duty. "I will, hopefully I could assist you."

"Thanks for the lead, and again, our condolences. We're going to talk with Mr Scrag now, if we find out anything new you'll be the first to hear about it", he promised.

"And if you come up with something else that could help us, please feel free to contact us", his subordinate added, to his surprise handing her a self-made business card before putting her shoes and jacket back on.

Hugh waited until the homeowner saw them out before he asked about it. "What was on that card you handed her?"

Whi-Two smiled. "It has my name and Xtransceiver number as well as our bureau's address on it", she explained. "That's easier than writing it down for everyone. I was inspired by those membership cards Team Plasma uses. We shouldn't fall behind in any matter."

With an approving nod, the Deputy agreed. "Good thinking." The two of them started to move towards the other house they had seen on their way from the crime scene to the victim's residence. "Maybe Lack-Two was right about something other than your looks after all", he probed a little deeper.

And it stung deep. It was true then, Rosa thought, that her colleagues believed she only got the promotion because the Inspector had found her outward appearance pleasing. The worst thing about it was that she couldn't say with certainty that they were wrong. "Thanks", she muttered, putting no effort into hiding her aversion.

Now realizing his inappropriate statement, Hugh seemed to shrink a little. "Sorry, don't take it personally. It's just that I can't see him choosing an assistant for any other reason. And him kissing you in your first week doesn't help."

Her disappointment was quickly replaced by astonishment. "You know about the kiss?", she asked almost panic-stricken.

Quietly grinning to himself, the young man waited with his answer until he had observed the home of their suspect from the outside. "A stain of your lipstick on him is pretty telling", he finally said. The front of the building appeared similar to that of Mrs Geoff, only visibly less well-tended. No flowers graced the front garden, just lawn. At least it was mowed decently.

In an attempt to get out of the corner this topic had left her in, Whi-Two considered for a short moment and decided the Deputy was the person who would understand her best if she opened up now. "Do you also know about how he shot a member of Team Plasma straight through the wrist from a downward angle? It scared the hell out of me", she admitted.

Hugh raised an eyebrow, though not for the reason she had thought. "The report said you landed that shot, not him."

At first, she thought she heard him wrong, speechless she shook her head to deny that.

"Great, now I don't know what frightens me more: Him being able to shoot thus precisely or him manipulating the files at will."

Once again, the Detective rang a doorbell to escape the conversation. Sixteen seconds this time.

Opening the door was a bald man in red jeans and a white shirt which he visibly should have washed quite some time ago. The corridor behind him looked not that different from his shirt. The female Detective was the first to speak this time: "We're sorry to disturb you, are you Ricky Scrag?"

He tried and failed to look presentable. "Who wants to know?", he questioned in return.

"My name is Deputy Inspector Hugh Angur, this is Detective Whi-Two", Hugh recited.

One could see the color fade from Ricky's face. "Oh, you're here because of the power outage I caused, aren't you?", he guessed, a tad of shame in his voice.

"We wish", the Deputy disputed dryly.

"Would you mind if we come in for a few minutes?", his subordinate asked, trying to maintain a facade of impartiality.

Clearly uncomfortable, the occupant went back inside, thereby making way for the two to follow. "It's not like I have a choice", he mumbled to himself, a little too loudly.

Whi-Two wanted to take off her jacket upon entering, but found the only coat-hook to be occupied by a black leather jacket with a crocodile imprint. Scanning the entrance hall for another one – without success – she noted it didn't look all that different from that of Mrs Geoff, the biggest difference being that the walls hadn't been painted in white, instead a kind of dirty beige had been chosen. The inside of the house seemed conspicuously darker because of that. Even if there had been more effort put into keeping the rooms clean or decorating it with furniture, that might have not changed.

Furniture was another thing that stuck out due to the fact that there was little to none. While one had to wonder how much money had been spent in the house next door, only the most necessary things filled up the space they were in now. Maybe because one specific item was the only thing not following that pattern, her superior's eyes got stuck on it: a mounting on the wall that could have been ornate if it hadn't been empty. The impression left little doubt that there had been a sword in it. "Something missing here?", he wanted to know, pointing his finger at it.

Ricky had to pull himself together to talk normally. "Yeah, I suppose someone who visited recently stole it", were the words that came out of his mouth. He sounded unsure and stuttering.

"You didn't report that to the police", the Detective commented.

Their counterpart appeared a little surprised at that statement. "I attempted to steal electricity from my neighbors, I wouldn't want the police here", he reasoned.

"What is your relationship with your neighbors like?", was the next thing Hugh inquired.

For a moment, it felt like Ricky wanted to withhold his answer and complain about them not telling him what this was about. However, he decided to cooperate. "Normal, I'd say, or at least it has been. We never had all that much to do with each other, but we got along at the occasional neighborhood barbecue. Miss Britney visited me a few times. Still, the Geoffs especially weren't very forgiving after that short circuit." He waited for a reaction from the officers, who looked at each other for a second.

Whi-Two was the one to follow with the follow-up question. "Especially Neil Geoff?"

Hesitantly, he nodded. "That boy always takes everything too seriously, he's been pestering me for it ever since", the bald-head confided.

"...Until you decided to kill him", the Deputy said darkly.

It took a moment for Ricky to understand what he had just been accused of, then he waved his hands around panicking. "No, of course not! I wouldn't do such a thing. Is- ...the boy really dead?", he stammered.

"He's been murdered on the street not far from here", the Detective confirmed.

The homeowner gripped his forehead with his right hand. "Oh no... I'm so sorry. But I didn't do it!", he insisted, his voice pouring with desperation.

She tried to fake a smile to make him a little more comfortable hoping then he wouldn't stop cooperating. "If you're innocent, we're your best chance at proving that", she claimed.

Her partner respected her efforts by trying to look less grumpy, still he didn't waste much time on comforting him. "Could you please tell us where you have been since yesterday afternoon?"

"I was with my girlfriend until this morning", Ricky was quick to excuse himself. "Her name is Tina Belmondo, I got her guitar here as proof."

Keeping her smile up, Whi-Two slowly shook her head. "Having her guitar here can't prove you were with her yesterday. We'll talk to her", she assured.

"Yeah, okay", he submitted, appearing to shrink a little.

Hugh wasn't done with him yet. "We haven't seen the results of our forensics yet. We'd like you to come to the police station later, so we can take your fingerprints." The code of procedure would allow anyone to refuse giving their fingerprints as long as there was no arrest warrant. The young officer's voice was so demanding when he asked for it that his subordinate wasn't sure whether the suspect knew he had a choice here.

* * *

After they finished their business with Ricky Scrag for the time being, the two officers took a break to eat something and then joined Lack-Two, Professor Juniper and Bianca in the visibly well-equipped forensics' lab. The latter greeted them remarkably cheerfully considering she was standing next to a stretcher with a young man's dead body on it. "Hey Hugh, you kept us waiting. And Rosa, it's so nice to see you again!"

The Inspector was quick to suppress their joy of the reunion. "She's called Whi-Two during work hours, I would appreciate it if you could stick with that." He wasn't looking up from the victim's bag he had focused on.

"Shouldn't that be her decision?", Bianca objected before the girl in question could say something herself.

But that didn't impress him much. "I made you stop calling me by my original name, I can do the same for her."

That made the forensic scientist grin. "I can't wait for you to try", she whistled, staggering towards him playfully.

The newest Detective finally found her voice. "Wait, you know his original name?" Having expressed it, she felt weird for being so surprised about it, still she couldn't help it – the idea that there were people who knew him by a different name than Lack-Two hadn't been revealed to her so far.

When Bianca saw the young woman's puzzled expression, she couldn't hold back a giggle. "Yeah, but if I told anybody he'd kill me", she joked.

"I can confirm, I will definitely do that", the Inspector said in his most serious voice.

His Deputy cleared his throat to catch their attention. "Could we please concentrate on our case right now? I'd like to be filled in on the results of your analysis."

"Of course", the budding scientist succumbed, getting hold of her clipboard and waiting until everyone in the room concentrated on her. "So we confirmed that the victim is without a doubt Neil Geoff. He was killed by a thrust to the back of his head. The wound matches the form of the ornamental sword's hilt, so we can say with relative certainty that it is the murder weapon. Presumed time of death is around 8pm, it must have already been dark."

Professor Juniper stepped forward from behind the table with the blood samples and print-outs of fingerprints on it to join her assistant. The two newcomers almost hadn't noticed her since the color of her clean white lab coat merged perfectly with the background. "The only blood on the crime scene is that of the victim, so the culprit wasn't injured. We found only one person's fingerprints on the sword. The same fingerprints aren't on the bag or the glasses, neither are they on the boys clothes." She showed them the respective test results to underline her statements.

Lack-Two finally stood up from the chair he had been sitting in and joined the circle they had formed to discuss properly. "No fingerprints on the bag means nothing was stolen, and looking through it gives the same impression. The victim's Xtransceiver, keys and purse are still here. So we can assume that it has been torn open accidentally or as a false lead. This was most definitely not felony murder, killing was the main aim. A photo we found inside also proves that these are Neil Geoff's glasses", he added to the previous speakers.

"Meanwhile, we've determined that this sword, like Miss Britney suspected, belongs to Ricky Scrag. In his entrance hall there's an empty mounting which it would fit on, he claims it has been stolen recently but hasn't reported it", Hugh reported their own results.

Last to fill the others in was Whi-Two: "He also has a motive to kill Neil, since the victim hasn't been kind on him after he caused a power outage for the neighborhood, that's what Mrs Geoff told us. His girlfriend is supposed to be his alibi for yesterday evening, since she is biased that's not particularly strong."

The Inspector folded his arms. "It all adds up then, doesn't it?"

None of them could object to this other than the Deputy. "I don't know, this seems way too textbook", he showed his skepticism.

"Textbooks are written that way for a reason", Lack-Two asked to consider.

"You know what I mean", Hugh sighed, turned around walked past his superior. "If you keep contradicting me just for the sake of it I might tell a few people that you've been messing with our reports", he whispered so that only the addressed could hear it.

The latter knew his subordinate wouldn't actually blackmail him, he just wanted to draw attention to the topic. So he took the bait. "I did it for Whi-Two. I wouldn't bother doing for myself, and you know that", he determined, following his counterpart into a corner of the room and leaving the three women to themselves.

"And that's exactly the problem", was what he got in return, anger being apparent in his Deputy's voice. "She can very well prove herself, she doesn't need your lies for that. By making your actions hers you just take away her chance of impressing on her own."

Lack-Two's mind wasn't changed easily. "I don't doubt her abilities, that's why I can support her that way without a bad conscience", he reasoned.

"If you don't understand why this is wrong, it's hard to believe you have a conscience at all", Hugh growled out. The look he received told him he could have as well growled at a wall. "I need to occupy myself somehow." In search of something to distract himself with, his eyes got stuck on the shards of the broken glasses. So he set down and started putting them together like a puzzle.

In the meantime, his superior returned to the others. Bianca had just finished filling his mentee in on the provision for the lab. "Large parts of all this have been financed with the help of Professor Juniper", she said joyfully. "Some of our forensic technology she even directly invented or improved. Unova wouldn't be half as good at fighting crimes without her. I'm very thankful to learn from her."

The older woman, who had taken place behind her proteges, listened to their conversation with amusement. "You're too kind, Bianca, I'm blushing already", she laughed. "If you're interested, Detective, we could show you what we're experimenting with right now. It's a new method to gain access of the data on Xtransceivers without having the code to unlock it."

"Keep in mind though that we will only be able to use that on the devices of dead victims or with a judge's approval", Lack-Two dampened their enthusiasm.

But Bianca couldn't be bothered by background banter. "Getting the permissions will be your job. Or Cheren's job maybe", was what she returned.

Somehow Whi-Two enjoyed watching them play off each other. "I'm sure we can put that technology to good use. You are doing a great job here", she praised.

"One piece is missing", Hugh suddenly disrupted them. Everyone turned towards him, wondering what he was talking about. Indeed, he had managed to assemble the pieces like they had originally fitted into the spectacles frame. With the exception of a noticeably large gap in the middle of the left lens. "You probably overlooked it at the crime scene."

The younger forensic scientist was the first to object. "No, I'm sure we found everything there is to find."

"If that is true, we've got a problem at our hands", the Inspector assessed.

"Is one missing shard really such a huge setback?", his mentee questioned.

For this, she got an almost sympathetic look from her superior. "Sadly it is. In the best case the defense team of whom we arrest will use it to make the judge believe we worked sloppily, in the worst case it indicates that we've been looking at this incident from the wrong angle." He kept staring at the incomplete glasses, sorting the thoughts in his mind.

The Deputy gave him a dry laugh. "Not so much like from textbooks now, is it?"

Ignoring his comment, the leader did his job. "Hugh, please accompany Bianca on her way back to the crime scene and look for that missing piece. Detective, you collect and write down what we have found out so far.", he delegated. "I am going to talk to Mrs Geoff again, introduce myself to her and inform her about the new discoveries."

"Roger that", Hugh agreed as they all followed his orders. Like pieces on a chessboard.

* * *

Soon after, Lack-Two was teaching the victim's step-mother about the progress of the investigation. Being a defense attorney, she understood their methodology quite well and could discuss it with him. He was still weary not to tell her more than she had to know, which he noticed she purposefully made harder for him. "Is there anything else I should know?", she asked for what felt like the tenth time.

But the Inspector decided that he had spent enough time filling her in. "No, that should be it, I only have a few more questions", he stated. "Can you recall when you last saw Mr Scrag?"

The woman thought for a moment before answering: "That must have been when he left his house yesterday morning. We didn't talk or anything, I just saw him through the window", she elaborated, even showing him the aforementioned window in the living room. Walking over the snow-white carpet, which had apparently been washed less than a day ago, in his socks, he understood why she insisted on every visitor taking off their shoes.

"And where were you around the presumed time of the murder?", he wanted to know, not looking at her and instead staring out of the window, nevertheless focusing solely on her response.

With the hesitance of a suspect, Mrs Geoff slowly provided him with the information he desired. "I was at home the entire day. Most of my paid leave I use supporting numerous charities, I don't have to get outside for that."

The young man felt she almost expected him to turn on her now, but despite the glaring loose ends on his mind, he saw no reason to do so. "Well then, thanks for your cooperation. I don't want to make more demands on your time than necessary", he said, not missing her sigh of relief. Turning away from the window, he started to make his way back to the entrance hall. "We will keep notifying you if we find out something of importance or in case we need-" He froze. Both his words and his movements stopped. Beneath his foot he had suddenly felt something that shouldn't have been there.

"Is everything alright?", the hostess inquired with concern. She watched him slowly bending down, lifting his leg and picking up a tiny transparent object. He eyed it like he knew exactly what it was. Taking a closer look, she found he was holding a shard. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I don't know how that got there. Please, let me get rid of that for you", she was quick to offer.

"No, I'd rather keep it", Lack-Two declined. "Broken glass is lucky."

He tied his shoes and exited the house without another word. The sun had set while he had been inside, he breathed in the cold air of the night. Light shone out of the building belonging to Miss Britney, it was already dark at Ricky Scrag's. He wandered away not looking back, his destination being the alleyway they had found the dead body in. His hope was that Hugh and Bianca were still there, partly to discuss with them what he found, partly because they could have driven him back to the police station. However, they had already quit what he instructed them to do, so he was forced to drive his car himself.

After carefully placing his coat in the trunk, he threw open the car door on the driver's side like he so rarely did. He didn't hate driving because he was as uncomfortable with it as Whi-Two was, only it bothered him to focus on nothing but the road, especially in a moment like this when he wanted to put his mind to other things. To him, being in the driver's seat was a waste of time more than anything else. Yet, if he had to drive, he focused, until he arrived at his destination.

Meanwhile, his newest Detective's eyes were glued to the computer screen in their shared bureau as she was sorting the notes she had prepared in different ways, hoping it would help her get a new understanding of the facts. She had been at it ever since parting ways with her colleagues earlier and didn't stop as the sunlight had faded, not even to switch on a lamp.

She finally turned around when she heard the sound of the door, and shuddered at the sight of a large figure looking down on her. The little light left in the room reflected in its pupils, giving them a dark luster. Not before it flicked the light switch on did the girl ease up.

"Please warn me next time, Inspector, you scared me", the girl mumbled.

Her mentor frowned at her in response. "That's what you get for sitting here in the dark. Be a little kinder to your eyes."

A small chuckle escaped her lips. "You're not just scary in the dark, Sir", she said, being thus quiet she hoped he wouldn't hear. He did.

Not showing how much he cared about her words, he walked behind her and leaned over her shoulder. "You've got the image of Neil's glasses with the gap in the left lens on your computer?", he requested.

"Yeah, just a moment", the Detective agreed, saving the document she had been working on before closing it and opening the file he had asked for. "There it is."

Next, she observed how he held a shard directly in front of the monitor. She wondered for a second what he was doing, then she realized its shape fitted the one they had been looking for. "Any doubt this is the piece we've been missing?", he sought her opinion, to which she immediately shook her head.

After staring at how the piece fit in with the others, she concentrated on the thing itself. "So Hugh and Bianca found it at the crime scene?", she required confirmation.

"No", Lack-Two contradicted. "It was on Mrs Geoff's carpet."

In the silence that ensued, he moved around the table and took place in his own chair, never taking his eyes off the small object in his hand. "How is that possible?", Whi-Two finally spat out in confusion.

"I don't know, I'll figure it out", he simply said.

He began taking one of his thick strands of hair between his thumb and index finger to twist it around the latter, as she had noticed he always did when he really had to think something through. It was one of her theories that he kept his hair the way he did to effortlessly be able to do this. After some more minutes of watching him quietly, the young woman couldn't take it anymore and spoke up again: "Alright, I'm supposed to learn from you. Initiate me into your thought process."

At first, he seemed reluctant, however he complied with her wish, laying the shard aside. "Empty your mind of any theories. Concentrate only on the facts for now", the Inspector started. "Every little thing can draw the culprit in, every minor detail can draw them out again." He extracted a salted stick from the glass she had placed on the table for the two of them, grasped both ends with two fingers each and slowly began pushing them together. "You just have to poke and prod in the right spot. Where bend becomes break..." As if on command, the stick broke in the middle.

When he held out one half of the snack to her, she received and ate it up plainly because she had no idea how else to react. "So much for the theoretical part. How do we put that into practice?" Now it was her turn to carefully pick up their newest evidence.

"Analyzing means working backwards. Effects reveal their cause", her superior continued. "This piece being in Mrs Geoff's living room is the effect of something. We just have to find the cause." He ate another salted stick himself. She was somehow glad he liked what she had brought for them, yet also even more insulted that he had never thanked her for doing it. Another voice in her mind reminded her that she hadn't expected recognition from him in the first place.

Bringing her mind back to the case, she thought about all plausible causes. "So either somebody brought the shard into her house, or the glasses broke there and somebody brought the rest of them to the crime scene", she laid out.

With his hand now unoccupied again, he moved it back to his hair. "Neil is wearing his glasses in every picture we've seen of him. Since he came home from work and needed to see clearly there, he surely wore them when he was killed."

"Which, in turn, would mean that – if the glasses broke inside Mrs Geoff's house – he was killed there and not where we thought", Whi-Two ended the thought.

A short pause began before her mentor dared to continue. "The victim's mother said she was home the entire day. He couldn't have been killed in there without her noticing." The two of them shared a look, both thinking the same. The Inspector was the one to express it: "Unless she was the one who killed him."

"You're suggesting she could have killed her step-son when he came home and moved all the evidence into the alley?", she repeated.

"The alternative is that Neil's murderer brought this one piece of evidence into the living room. There's nothing that gives us reason to believe someone broke into her house, though." Seeing how his mentee had no adequate response, he continued. "If we intend to accuse her, we'll need more than a modus operandi. The judge is going to demand decisive evidence and a motive."

His counterpart however was still hesitant. "We want to make her our primary suspect when there's still the chance she's being framed? If we wrongly accuse the victim's step-mother, this will blow up in our faces", she gave into consideration.

Lack-Two didn't smile, but she could tell he was mildly amused. "We can't restrict our investigations just to spare our reputation", he replied. "I propose we see how far we come with this. If she is guilty, we'll find more proof along the way. If not, having her exonerated will only hurt the culprit's defense team in court." He snatched the shard she had still been holding away from her with a remarkably fast movement and carefully placed it in a special bag for safekeeping.

Whi-Two took a look out of the window. The large road beneath, dimly lit by a number of street lights, had already emptied after rush hour. Only now did she notice how late it had gotten. "Can we start working on that tomorrow, then?"

He followed her gaze and, after thinking about it shortly, he submitted. "Fine, I will assign the task of checking Ricky's alibi to Hugh. You are going to search for a possible motive Mrs Geoff could've had for killing Neil while I look for more evidence against her", the Inspector decided.

"We're signing off for today?", she asked for confirmation.

"We're signing off for today", he confirmed.

So she continued to turn off her computer and pack her belongings. When she stood up to leave, she gave him another look, being irritated by him not doing the same. "Are you coming?", the young woman wondered. For a moment she just stood there looking down on his still sitting figure.

Slowly, he began to nod. "You go on ahead, I'll only need a few more minutes. See you tomorrow, Detective."

Not wanting to argue with him anymore now that they had already finished their work for the day, she left before him, without him. Had she questioned how long he stayed in their bureau afterwards, maybe she would have discovered the need to drag him home.

* * *

Miss Britney sure wasn't happy when she opened the door – eighteen seconds after the ringing of the doorbell – to see the female Detective whom she had shown the location of her house the previous morning. "Hello, Miss. I hate to disturb you, but I was hoping you could answer a few more questions to advance our investigations", she greeted timidly.

The woman was as unenthusiastic as she had been the day prior. "I'll try to help the best way I can", she agreed nevertheless. She didn't move out of the door-frame, which signaled to Whi-Two that she wasn't welcome inside, still she appreciated the cooperation.

The street behind her back was as quiet as it had been every time she had seen it. Being integrated into Unova's largest city, she wondered why the neighborhood seemed so lifeless compared to the rest of what she had seen from Castelia. Her mind blamed it on the high amount of money needed to live in houses like these.

"We need to know a little more about Neil's relationships to the people in this neighborhood. For starters, how well did you know him?", the first question went.

"I'd say I knew him quite well", the homeowner assessed. "We've been neighbors for years, I've seen him quite often. We didn't have a close relationship but I'd say it was a good one nonetheless."

Deciding against taking notes during the conversation to not further unsettle her, the Detective made mental remarks. "Did he and Ricky Scrag have a lot of arguments?", she wanted to know.

Her counterpart did take the time to think about what information could be valuable despite her indisposition. "Well, they didn't get along well during the last days, but I don't remember them having a grudge against each other before."

Whi-Two nodded slowly. "And was there tension between the boy and his mother?", was the next thing to clear up.

That surprised Miss Britney. "I wouldn't know of any, or why there would be", she said quickly.

"Could you tell me a few things about his father?", the guest requested.

"Alright, so he was the holder of Castelia's renowned Battle Company and always busy with work. I think he was quite wealthy, at least he had insisted on paying for our neighborhood barbecues each time", Miss Britney recalled. "But I remember Mrs Geoff once said she couldn't carry on that tradition because her husband had bequeathed the largest part of his fortune to Neil."

This was the kind of information the young officer had been hoping for. "That sounds like it could have been a topic for arguments, doesn't it?", she dug deeper. Her interest seemed to be noticed and met with reservation.

The other woman started to shake her head in disbelieve. "I don't think so. Mr Geoff had married his last wife pretty recently, but they clearly loved each other very much. I believe he made Neil his successor in the training center because Mrs Geoff already has a well-paid job as an attorney."

"Thank you for your support, I think that concludes our questions for now. You've been a great help", Whi-Two said with a slow nod, storing the new information in her head ready to report them to her team.

The local managed a weak smile. "I do what I can", she murmured, and noticeably felt a little better when her smile was returned. The Detective still hoped this was the last time she'd have to bother her.

A few minutes later she was strolling along the streets looking on her Xtransceiver. Unbeknownst to her, she was taking the same route the Inspector had followed the evening before. Due to being caught up in a video call with the latter and his Deputy she didn't pay attention to her environment anyways. On the main street she almost collided with a passerby. At least that reassured her there were other people in this area.

"So Mrs Geoff would indeed have a motive, she now gets her late husbands heritage", the newest member of the group had just ended her update.

"That checks out", Hugh applauded her work. "I spoke with Tina Belmondo, she corroborates her boyfriend's alibi. Still, we mustn't forget that due to her relationship with Ricky Scrag her credibility may be called into question." The background of his image on the screen showed he was also out on the streets.

Lack-Two was the only one talking to his colleagues from the comfort of his bureau. "And we won't be able to touch the mother without decisive evidence at all", he added. "The prints all over the boy's bag and clothes are hers, as we confirmed, but that hardly proves anything, they could have gotten there in a number of ways." His subordinates deducted he had spent the morning with Bianca.

Another thought crossed the mind of his right hand. "Has Ricky Scrag at least already shown up to be fingerprinted?"

The superior affirmed it. "He has, and as you would expect his traces are on the murder weapon. Assuming it's his that's no surprise. With no other clues on the sword however we only have contradictory evidence", he summed up.

"So as a learned lawyer Mrs Geoff could easily make the court believe we got it backwards", Whi-Two presumed. She felt a chill as a breath of wind blew through her hair buns, making her once again glad that she didn't wear her hair open anymore.

Hugh clearly wasn't satisfied with the status of the investigation. "But I don't believe her neighbor could've hidden the shard there without being noticed, let alone without leaving traces." Now she noticed his hair was storm-proof as well, he had probably put a lot of effort into keeping it that way.

And his discontentment was shared by her. "As long as he is the only one we can connect with the murder weapon, how do we rule out that he committed the crime and tried to frame someone else?" One of the street's inhabitants left the house on her left whistling happily, and she had to walk a little faster for the sound not to be heard in the call. It felt weird to her how people just moved on with her business here, with one of their neighbors being a killer.

A snort came from the blue-haired man. "To think that twenty-four hours ago we thought this case was too easy...", he complained.

"Be careful what you wish for", the youngest Detective said with a frown. She looked at the image of her mentor and realized that while he still paid attention to their words, he had stopped contributing his own thoughts. "Are you still with us, Sir?", she asked, uncertainty in her voice.

He gave her a look that told her she had missed something which appeared obvious to him, and she felt the urge to tell him it wasn't before even knowing what he was thinking of this time. "You said we got it backwards", the Inspector clarified without actually clarifying.

"And what about it?", the other two wondered.

Despite feeling like he shouldn't have to explain it, Lack-Two gladly elaborated for them: "We are seeing the sword as a weapon, but we have to think backwards – it's an ornament. So Mrs Geoff might have taken good care of her fingerprints not being on the thing itself, but could she have been that cautious when stealing it?"

Now Whi-Two caught up with his thought process. "Oh, so if we find her prints on the mounting from where she took it, that links her to the murder weapon, thus giving us the decisive evidence we're lacking", she ascertained.

"Correct", her leader approved. "That's the proof we need."

The energy seemed to return to the team. "I'm already in the area, I'll go to see Ricky Scrag and ask him whether he'd allow Bianca to analyze his decoration", the female officer offered.

They quickly wrapped up the call with the Inspector determining that he'd prepare the forensic lab and his Deputy accepting the role as chauffeur for the young scientist. Another breeze met Whi-Two's face, this time she enjoyed the fresh air.

* * *

"No, wait, your shoes! You have to take them off, please-", Mrs Geoff said almost frantically as she realized Lack-Two, his Deputy and his mentee weren't intending to do so after she had let them into her entrance hall once again.

Lack-Two had never cared for behaving in a particularly polite way if it didn't aid his cause. Now the women in the room learned when he considered himself in the presence of a criminal he'd be ready to offend against etiquette in a heartbeat, as he interrupted her immediately. "I'm afraid you have way bigger problems than possible dirt on your carpet", he warned. "I am hereby arresting you for killing your step-son Neil Geoff."

The addressed reacted appropriately horrified. "What? Why would I do that?", she inquired sarcastically.

Her rhetorical question got obligingly answered by the female Detective. "Quite simple, avarice. You wanted your husband's inheritance and weren't satisfied with the boy getting it all", she deducted.

"Not true, I wouldn't kill anyone out of avarice!", the widow was quick to dismiss the accusation.

Hugh went on pretending she hadn't said anything. "So you murdered him after he came home from work. Then you moved all the evidence into the near alleyway trying to frame Ricky Scrag whom you were recently on bad terms with", he retold. The three of them had positioned to surround the homeowner now.

Being quite literally cornered, she resolved to letting it show she was a defense attorney herself. "And even if that were the case, you could never prove it", she claimed.

"Broken glass is lucky", Lack-Two repeated his own words. "The shard I stepped on when I last visited belonged to the glasses at the crime scene."

"We also took a look at the victim's phone", the tallest of the three officers added. "You told us you reported him as missing. Isn't it strange, then, that you didn't attempt to call him?", he used her method of rhetorical questions against her.

She still wasn't willing to give up, however. "The murder weapon isn't mine, though. Have you found my prints on it?"

Whi-Two got to respond to this one. "No, we didn't, you did good work on that." She paused and observed how the accused was already about to declare victory. "The fact that we found your traces on the sword's mounting in your neighbor's corridor where it was stolen from makes up for it." The guests watched as their host's face fell.

For a moment her cat stretched its head out of the kitchen, then it decided it still didn't care for the strangers and disappeared again. The Inspector turned up his nose. "At least you took care of the cat litter."

"But that's not fair!", Mrs Geoff protested, submitting in light of the evidence against her. "I wasn't driven by avarice, I did the right thing!" Seeing three eyebrows raised at her, she went on. "My husband and I always gave that money to charities, people who truly need it. But when Neil inherited everything, he said we'd need it ourselves and had nothing to give away. I stayed in contact with these organizations, I saw how bad they still have it. These people die as well, I would have saved more lives than I took!", she tried to justify, now sounding almost despairingly.

None of this persuaded Lack-Two in the slightest. "You as an attorney should have known, this isn't how justice works", he stated without any emotion recognizable in his voice.

"Now I remember where I've seen you before", his female companion abruptly found, her memory being stimulated by the exchange. "You were one of the people entering the city hall before Zinzolin's speech. You're a member of Team Plasma."

When the blonde bit her tongue, they knew the Detective was correct. "I got in contact with them after the assembly. They helped me with the plan to get the money where it belongs", she revealed.

For the Deputy, that confession was enough. "They should have told you murderers belong to jail", he expressed.

"Letting the children I donated for die would be a bigger crime than what I did", she still insisted. Then she turned towards Whi-Two with an almost pleading look. "You understand, don't you?"

The younger woman hesitated. Her mentor relieved her of having to answer by doing it himself. "No, I don't understand." His voice sounded as cold as it sounded honest. "I will never understand how anyone can think that wrongs can turn out right by saying wrongs are right to do." His statement hung in the air, nobody would have dared debating them.

Mrs Geoff stared at him with first shock, then bewilderment, then disdain. She opened her mouth a few times but didn't find the words she was looking for. "Who are you to judge me? It's easy for you to say, I bet nothing ever went wrong in your perfect little life!", was what came out in the end.

For a few seconds it felt like the Inspector would snap and counter her allegation with a tragic story from his past. "You're right. I'm just perfect", he stated in a way that let none of them know whether he was being sarcastic. He turned away and made his way toward the exit. "We can apprehend her now", was left as an order for Hugh and Whi-Two.

"It's clearance", the guilty woman suddenly said.

Lack-Two stopped in his tracks. "What was that?"

She appeared to be surprised her words really meant something to him and put on an ironic smile. "Team Plasma's leader told me, if Castelia's Inspector was the one to take me into custody, I should let him know it was clearance", she quoted.

"What does that mean?", the female Detective questioned, seeing as he apparently understood it.

Their leader moved his hand to his hair and twisted a strand around his index finger again. He deliberated for what felt like forever whether he should share his comprehension. "A challenge", he confided in the end. "One I intend to take." After these words, he held open the door and accompanied his team as they arrested the murderer of Neil Geoff. It had been one case in somebody's greater scheme, and they were determined to unravel it.

* * *

**When starting a game of chess, one of the players' first main goals is clearance, which is the act of moving a piece with the purpose of making way for a bishop, rook or queen on the rank, file or diagonal it stood on. This is especially important at the beginning because the pawns block most of the other own figures one wants to develop early on, but it can become necessary at any point of the match. Clearance often involves sacrificing the piece that unblocks the position, which means a temporary disadvantage, on the other hand in some cases the chessmen might immediately threaten an important piece on the opponent's side once their path has been cleared. With everything being able to both pose a problem or deliver an edge, there truly is no black and white in chess.**

* * *

**What do you think, do they make a good team? Anyways, that's it for the third chapter of Mates and Stalemates, I hope it was to you liking. I****f that's the case, please consider liking and following the story. I'm especially grateful for reviews, be it concerning the content, my writing style or whatever you feel like talking about, those are my main drive of continuing my work.**

**I prefer quality over quantity, which is why I don't promise when the next chapter can come out, I don't want to rush myself in the end. That being said, I don't plan for it to take longer than this one. So don't miss my next update, but most importantly have a nice early summer despite our current circumstances!  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Black Against White

**Chapter 4: Black Against White**

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**I finally caught up with my schedule now, today is a exactly when I wanted this chapter to come out. Because today is the birthday of someone very special to me. You will know you're the one I mean, this chapter is dedicated to you - I consider my writing the best I can do, and you deserve the best, I hope you like it! Of course, I hope as many people as possible like the way this turns out!  
**

**In terms of the rating, this chapter has a short description of a probably painful death, it won't be discussed a lot, though, I hope nobody will mind it much at this scale. That being said, I wish you all to enjoy your time reading this, and that you may stay healthy until I have the next chapter done in winter.**

********Standard Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, places or Pokemon itself, and I have no intentions to earn money with this story in any way!********

* * *

Jokes were made at the police department's dining table regularly about punctuality being the only quality Lack-Two would hold others in high esteem for. That was why Whi-Two inwardly cursed herself for deciding against getting to their rendezvous point by taking an official car. Her uneasiness with driving would hardly be accepted as an excuse.

When her train arrived at Anville Town's station beneath light gray clouds that had been covering the region for multiple days by now, she was already in a hurry and sprinted along the small track next to the railway until she reached her destination. At least the rush distracted her from the nervousness afflicting her because of what she'd have to do later that day, but that was all the good she could find in this situation. Beneath a tall bridge Looker waited for her. A police cordon had been put up around him and the chalk outline symbolizing where the victim had been hit by a train.

She was about to greet the Colonel when her Inspector's voice caught her attention. "You're late", he noted scornfully. Looking for the source of the reproach, she found him standing above them on the bridge looking into the distance. One could tell the temperature had fallen during the last weeks by seeing even he wore his coat buttoned up now. In the previous days she had started to think his inner coldness had made him resistant to outer one, and was now somehow relieved that wasn't actually the case.

"I came as fast as I could, it was the train that's been late", she tried to reason. He showed little to no interest in her words.

The older officer gave her a sympathetic smile. "He's having one of his bad days", he said quietly enough for their superior not to hear it.

Realizing he had already spent the forenoon with her mentor in this state, she somehow felt sorry for him. "Isn't every day a bad day for him?", the Detective replied, not sure herself whether she was being sarcastic or serious. "Anyways, what are we here for?"

Underlining his words with gestures, Looker filled her in. "The victim, Dirk June, fell off the bridge at this point right when a freight train came by. It was delivering commodities to the depository at the end of these tracks, driving with about forty kilometers per hour. The conductor got a fright when she hit the man and stopped her vehicle, she called an ambulance but before it arrived Mr June had already died of his injuries. Witnesses testified they saw two of his friends up there with him before he fell, so the local police department started an investigation into whether they shoved him. Between the belongings of all three men they found the date of the incident marked in the calendars and a hidden membership card of Team Plasma. That's where we come in", he finished his report.

Whi-Two paid close attention and took her time to process all the information. Trying to learn as much as possible, she thought of unanswered questions he could help her with. "Have Mr June's friends or relatives noticed any indications that he might have been suicidal?", she was interested in knowing.

"That's the wrong question", Lack-Two abruptly determined.

She was taken aback and waited for him to elaborate. Even more irritated when he didn't, she dared to inquire: "How is the question wrong?" Whenever she started to think she had seen all his peculiar behavioral patterns, he came up with something new to torment her.

In his usual way of explaining something as if everybody should have already understood it, he showed mercy. "When you start assuming it was a suicide, you may eventually lose sight of the fact it might have been a crime. We don't begin an investigation searching for opportunities to exonerate all possible culprits."

That approach seemed too single-minded to her. "Is the world really just black and white to you that you assume it's less likely for a Team Plasma member to be weary of their life? It seems to fit their philosophy, thinking that the world is so unfair that they don't want to live in it anymore", she pondered. Black and white like the figures in a chess game, she thought, how unlikely was it that the world looked this way to him? How he had claimed she was the queen in his game wouldn't leave her mind. He was still playing with her, and she could do nothing about it. Except for challenging him.

He took the challenge each time, confident she wouldn't be able to threaten him "With all the shades of gray we have to consider nowadays, we must watch out not to forget black and white exist", he pointed out. "Sometimes we get exactly the crime we expect." She wished to have his ability to see through a situation at one glance. Then again she didn't, because it would probably rob everyone not as uncharitable as him their sleep.

Trying to avoid further arguments, the young woman submitted to his method. "Okay, let's focus on the possible culprits first", she sighed. "Have we received testimony about how close the three men were?"

Once he was sure their superior wouldn't interfere, Looker gave her the information she sought. "They were acquaintances, knowing each other as a friend's friend or something similar. Since they seldom did things together, they didn't talk much about each other either", he recalled.

Concentrating on the two suspects, the female Detective made the mistake of saying what was on her mind. "So we have no hints on any possible motive, do we?", she requested reassurance.

"Wrong question again", the Inspector repeated. Looking up, she found his eyes not on her but instead following a lone bird that was apparently late for its flight south before the winter.

She had trouble deciding whether it bothered her more how he placed himself above them or how he didn't even look at them when talking or how he treated her like he had already figured the case out.

"How do you even know which questions are right or wrong?", she snapped at him.

His answer was simple. "Because I already figured the case out."

The Colonel laid his hand on her shoulder and gave her a knowing look that clearly was supposed to warn her not to freak out. "Why are you making us waste our time here then?", Whi-Two cried out in annoyance, and it was most likely the kindest reaction she could have come up with. Looker had already accepted his fate, she realized, maybe a long time ago, and inwardly that motivated her to not truckle. After all, she only came as far as she did because she wouldn't truckle, even if it meant slapping her superior in the face.

How much he minded being slapped in the face, she couldn't tell. He clearly made no effort to behave less deserving of being slapped. "I wanted to see how you go about solving it first", he explained. His tone was neutral, devoid of any judgment, which was quite stunning looking at how judging his words could have been. He had never given her any hints on how he'd evaluate her performance, this wasn't the point where he'd start.

"Sir, may I remind you that we're on a tight schedule today?", she said abashedly. Thinking about it, maybe wasting time with him here wasn't that bad in comparison.

Lack-Two sighed, now actually looking down towards them. "You're right", he admitted. Folding his arms behind his back, he turned to leave. "You can think about the solution on the train."

This surprised his mentee, who had hoped to mentally prepare for the upcoming appointment in the backseat during a car ride, and didn't like hearing she'd have another train ride ahead of her. "You came here with an official car, didn't you? Can't we use that to get back?", she wondered.

It was the Colonel who rejected that idea. "I drove him here, and I'm headed for a different direction than you two, so I can't drop you off", he explained to her regret.

"I have to take a detour to get down from here. I'll meet you at the train station", the man atop of them said, and mere seconds after finishing that sentence, he was gone.

Making sure he couldn't hear them anymore – there was always the fear in the Detective's mind that he'd hear everything she or others said about him –, she turned to Looker once more: "How can you endure his behavior on his regular basis for years? I feel like I really need to know", she groaned.

The addressed smiled weakly. "It's not easy, that's for sure. But I want to concentrate on how good he is at what he's doing. I admire him for it a little, I respect him and I hope to earn his respect, even with his methods being somewhat questionable. If you want him to open up to you, maybe you should try to open up to him first?"

His words got stuck in her head even after she said goodbye to the older officer and made her way towards the rendezvous point. Her superior was already sitting on a bench there, waiting either for her or the train. She had no idea how he had managed to get there faster than her, though since for once he didn't rebuke her, mentioning it was the last thing she would have done.

The duo didn't have to wait long for the train. It seemed to be almost empty when they entered. During weekdays Anville Town was never a popular destination, Whi-Two remembered. Having free choice, she sat down in a seat close to the door and next to one of the windows. Lack-Two watched her take place and then settled on a seat three rows behind her. It took her a moment to understand what he had just done, finding it to be the most disrespectful thing he had done on that day, and it clearly wasn't without competition.

"Would it kill you to sit next to me?", she murmured embarrassed.

He thought about it for a second. "The probability of it killing me is very low, still I would prefer not to take any risks."

For a while, his subordinate didn't know how to respond, or if to respond, feeling very uncomfortable in her position despite the pretty landscape she could have seen through the window once the train started moving. Usually she loved staring outside during a train ride, today just wasn't her day.

At last, she spoke out what had been on her mind ever since they had started working together: "If I'm such a risk that you can't even sit next to me, why would you take me as your mentee in the first place?" It felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders once it was out, but the silence that ensued when he devised his reply weighted even harder.

"It took you longer to ask than I expected", the Inspector conceded. "You think I'd keep you around because of your looks?" He looked and sounded quite interested in her opinion on this. She recognized the interest as being the same he had when questioning a witness.

Whi-Two shrank a little in her seat. Because he wasn't wrong. Though she wouldn't admit it outright. "Hugh isn't the only one who believed it. You're not sitting with us in the cafeteria, you don't hear them gossip about it. And the hardest thing is that I don't know whether they're wrong."

The interest fled his eyes, they trailed off towards the window. Knowing he enjoyed the view just as much as she did could have eased the tension for both of them, the problem being that neither of them would have ever mentioned it. "You should be above gossip in this line of work. But if it helps, I did not just choose you because of your looks", he acknowledged. The way he said it made very clear he was used to being gossiped about, if that hadn't been obvious already.

Whether she should just be glad to have gotten that verification or attempt to press him for further information was a decision that took her more time than it should have. So much so that he resumed by himself.

"Don't get me wrong, I would disagree with nobody who calls you pretty. Except for Hugh, probably, I'd disagree with him on anything", he noted. She thought she might have preferred it if he had stopped himself before these words. "The point is, I don't need someone just to look at for work, and I am not the person to make it personal either."

Not personal, that was the point. "Maybe you go too far with trying to not make anything personal. I don't even know your name." She spat out the words impulsively, only afterwards she realized how much of an issue it really was for her.

Lack-Two showed no movement. But his tone revealed that he was surprised. "Why does that matter? Even if you knew my name, you'd still address me the same." He who always behaved like he understood everything didn't understand why knowing each other's names meant something to her.

"It's about trust. If we're a team, we should trust each other, right? Still, I don't know your name and you don't want to sit next to me during a train ride." Thinking about it, she wondered whether she even wanted to sit next to him. Perhaps he had been onto something. The train shook a little stronger than usual as it entered a curve.

He raised an eyebrow. This concept seemed to be new to him. "None of our other colleagues expressed trust issues as their problem with me. Why do you?"

How clueless this otherwise so omniscient Inspector was when it came to his own social surroundings frustrated her. The Detective had no response for him, it should have been self-explanatory. Nobody except for him would've asked that question. She remembered the way he had kept telling her she was asking the wrong questions and it somehow made more sense to her now. But she also remembered Looker's advice. There was just one thing left to say for her: "You're invited for dinner."

In her first week, she had beaten him in hand-to-hand combat and slapped him in the face twice. These things hadn't thrown him half as much off guard as her words. He took him very long to realize what she had said, and even longer to find something to return. "That's a kind offer, but it won't be necessary", he muttered. While he had not looked at her before, now he was shunning her gaze.

"I don't like it either, but that's what colleagues do", she insisted, with a determination in her voice that nobody could have said no to.

The young man looked up and faced her. "It's not a good idea", was his clear statement. It wasn't enough of a no.

"This weekend I'll be with my family in Aspertia City. You can join us for a meal on Sunday evening, my mom is going to cook for us", she decided.

Lack-Two watched as they passed by a large field of colorful flowers through the window. He gave in. "You'll have to tell your mom I'm a vegetarian, though." The flowers would not withstand the winter, still they didn't know it yet and shined as beautiful as ever.

His counterpart smiled satisfied. "That's fitting, me too."

* * *

Cheren would never not be nervous whenever he waited in the halls of the courthouse for the involved police officers. One could tell how he felt by watching how often he straightened his red tie, tapped his white buttoned shirt or smoothed his well-combed black hair. He had been a prosecutor for about as long as Lack-Two had been a Detective, which was relatively short, and despite the many cases they had brought to court together, that feeling wouldn't go away. The feeling that the cases he was working on were way too big for him.

And it didn't really calm him down when he saw the Inspector finally arrive, walking towards him determinedly, on that day with his new partner trailing him for the first time.

This new partner wasn't in any way less stressed than he was, since it was the first time she'd personally serve as an important witness in a court of law. She regretted having accepted the praise for arresting Mitchell Vapor on the boat ride to Castelia City when in actuality she had just been a bystander herself.

"It's good to see you two", the jurist greeted them. "Are you ready?" They could have asked him the same question.

Lack-Two took it upon himself to answer. "She's prepared, she's been working on it for weeks." Then he got the formalities over with in the most formal tone possible: "Detective, this is the prosecutor presiding over the case."

Said man stiffly stretched out his arm. "My name is Cheren, it's a pleasure to meet you", he introduced himself.

"I'm Detective Whi-Two, the pleasure is all mine", she returned while shaking his hand.

Noticing how tense both of them were, the male officer tried to calm them down, since they would achieve better results without being so nervous. "You don't need to worry, the case is pretty easy and evidence is on our side, this won't take very long", he attempted to appease them.

The young prosecutor had never been easy to convince, and wasn't as confident as he had been in his youth. "If the defense attorney doesn't cause trouble, that is", he dreaded.

His words reminded the Detective to ask: "Do you know who the prosecutor for this case is?"

To their surprise, this made Cheren smile weakly. "No, I actually don't know this time. I received a memo about it, but there must have been a mistake, it said the defense would be lea by Dr Colress", he recounted.

"That was very much not a mistake!", the three heard an enthusiastic voice behind them. A tall man in a clean lab coat came up the stairs towards them, his eyes in the same color as his blonde hair scrutinizing them with great interest behind the thin glasses he wore. His long, blue wisp of hair which he formed like a chaplet was a unique eye-catcher for sure. "You must be the prodigy prosecutor Cheren, I am looking forward to seeing your skills in a trial." He held out his hand for his rival to shake, but this time the young man was too much in awe to accept the offer.

While he wasn't any less surprised, the Inspector retained his composure. "You're the famous scientist working with Professor Juniper, are you not? I didn't know you studied law as well", he admitted.

Colress moved past Cheren, his smile not showing any sign of disappointment about the latter not returning his manners, to pay attention to the man who addressed him. "I am honored that the great Inspector Lack-Two would consider me famous. I see that I am in fine company here, it was a good choice to come. Yes, first and foremost I am a scientist, but experiments have to be funded somehow, and I found that this is a good way." None of the three really liked the thought of him being in such a crucial position only for the money. He had a shady aura around him, still at the same time it was hard to come up with something to say against him since he seemed so poised.

"Courtroom One is now open, the prosecution and the defense are asked to come in. Spectators who will not be called in as potential witnesses are allowed to enter the stands", a female voice originating from the loudspeakers echoed through the building.

The scientist moved his arms a little to limber up. "We'll see each other inside, then. I hope we'll be able to talk some more afterwards, it's very insightful." With these words, he strode ahead.

After exchanging another look with Whi-Two, the prosecutor followed him. Not looking at or talking to anybody anymore, Lack-Two made his way to the spectator seats. Being left alone, the Detective's insecurity only grew while she waited to be summoned. Inside the room, the trial began.

Rigidly, she stood in front of the door hoping not to miss her timing, even though she likely couldn't have missed it at all. It already felt like an eternity, glimpsing at the nearest clock didn't do her good either. There shouldn't have been much to talk about before her testimony, she thought, which only proved how much time was required for correctly carrying out the standard procedures in the beginning.

The clock ticked her time away second by second, its quiet sound rang loudly in her ears while she esteemed the ornament on the hands. When the loudspeakers announced what she awaited, she was startled by it despite nothing else having been on her mind the entire time. "Witness Rosa White, please enter Courtroom One for your testimony."

Opening the large hinged doors, Whi-Two stepped inside. Most things in the room looked like they were ancient, made of wood and lavishly decorated, from the elevated judge's desk opposite of the entrance over the boxes for the defense on her right and the prosecution on her left to the grandstands high above them on each side. The latter were remarkably unoccupied, due to the trial not being openly accessible since the public wasn't supposed to hear about Team Plasma in detail yet. She didn't have time to pay much attention to the details of the ornament, still she could tell there were a lot.

As soon as she got in, a bailiff showed her the place at the witness stand she had to go to. It was easily visible in the middle of the room facing the judge directly and the other two lawyers from an angle. To get there, she had to walk past the defendant's place. Mitchell Vapor stared at her the entire time with something remotely comparable to fear, the enforcement officer noticed this and kept his guard up.

Having reached her position, she could see Colress smiling at her with the same excitement as before, so nothing that had happened until now threw him off. Cheren looked determined, nodding towards her, not so nervous anymore but rather fully caught in the moment. She didn't see her Inspector directly, she didn't need to see him to know he carefully eyed her from behind.

Despite his presence, the most threatening to her seemed to be the judge, a woman with short gray hair whom she couldn't imagine wearing anything else than this standard black robe looking down on her from her rostrum, making the witness feel very unpleasant as she tried not to let it show. "Please state your full name and occupation", she began, her voice slow and demanding.

"My name is Rosa White, I currently live in Castelia City and am a citizen of Unova, working as a Detective for the local police department", she stated as rehearsed.

The secretary wrote the information down with recognizable speed. While the judge already continued: "You have been called as a witness in the case of Mitchell Vapor, who is accused of membership in an illegal organization, smuggling of arms for said group and attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty of all charges." Hearing it made the Detective's stomach hurt, although she could have guessed it after the expensive defense attorney showing up. The defendant would falsely claim to be innocent after all.

Next, Cheren was asked to start his interrogation. "Detective, where did you first see Mr Vapor?", he began as simple as possible, and she would give as detailed of an answer as possible, and the defense paid as close attention as possible.

Careful to get everything right, she reported all the events that had happened on the boat ride to Castelia, being supported by the prosecutor's well-thought-out questions. Lack-Two had told her to stick to the truth no matter what, even when he had previously changed the story to make her look good in front of Superintendent Anabel, so she did. Colress made the impression that he was patiently waiting for holes to tear open later and just didn't want his cards revealed yet, she tried her best not to be irritated by that. "Mr Vapor was apprehended immediately when the ship anchored at the harbor. The weapons he had previously smuggled into the Virbank Complex were found confiscated on the day after. His gun and membership card were kept as evidence, the authenticity of the latter was later proven by it allowing us to participate in a meeting of Team Plasma", with that, the part she had prepared for was almost done. She hoped it had been enough, for if not, it would only get harder from there.

Her testimony was strengthened by Cheren showing what she was talking about with a projector. "Exhibit A, the membership card as picked up by the Detective in the storage room. The logo in the upper right corner proves unequivocally that it is related to Team Plasma." The image on the wall left little doubt the card was exactly as described, and proving part of the story correct would make the rest of it more believable in turn.

The judge seemed satisfied by the evidence so far. "Does the defense have any questions?", she asked in a way that made it clear she herself had none.

The defense attorney leaned forward, his fingers intertwined with each other. "You did a very good job, Detective. Your reaction was quick and save, the department made a good choice employing you", he flattered her shamelessly, completely missing the point of why they were here.

His opponent didn't wait long to remind him of that. "Enough with the praise, if you don't concentrate I'll ask the judge to hold you in contempt of court!", he threatened, trying to assert his superiority over the new foe. That was mainly because he didn't have the slightest idea what the latter's plans were.

Colress gave in without ever losing his smile. "Okay, you're right, sorry. What I am trying to get to is..." He made a dramatic pause and suddenly it seemed more like a grin. "You found that membership card on the floor of the storage room near Mr Vapor, as you stated. Did you actually see it fall out of his pocket?" He went for trifles, because who else if not a scientist would have such a good eye for them.

The witness tried to save herself. "Well, not exactly, but..."

Cheren took that burden from her swiftly. "Objection! It doesn't matter whether the Detective saw it directly, we have his fingerprints on the card", he claimed. The sentence was ended with finality, hoping the argument would be over with this. It wasn't.

Being way better prepared than he wanted to show, the scientist had a response. "His prints may have gotten there during the police questioning. If I remember correctly, I heard Inspector Lack-Two saying on the tape recording that he showed it to him there." He seemed to expect a comeback, like he was eager to hear what his adversary would come up with.

Fair enough, the prosecutor had one: "While that would be possible, we can still assume that it is his, because next to those of Inspector Lack-Two and the Detective's, the defendant's fingerprints are the only one on the card." He hadn't expected such a resistance from the defense, but he had thought out how to react. It was a frustrating discussion, knowing that without recording Mitchell Vapor had revealed he was going to attend a meeting of the criminal organization, only they couldn't use that information because there was no proof for him having said it and it could have looked like he had been threatened into admitting it.

"Ah, very clever indeed!", Colress applauded. Usually Whi-Two appreciated honest enthusiasm, his appeared to be very out of place and dangerous. She realized he was a reactive strategist, making use of everything others would reveal to him. "But the real owner might have just been careful to not leave evidence, there not being other clues doesn't prove that it is my client's", he brought up. It wasn't the strongest argument, it didn't need to be. He only had to sow doubt.

This wasn't a debate worth maintaining for Cheren, he could only lose going further in this direction. "The prosecution has nothing to add, your honor", he said to the judge.

Said woman had been following both their cases carefully and made a perfect poker-face. "Shall we move on?" The question was directed to the defense attorney, who shook his head.

He was only getting started now. "You honor, I want to have a cross-examination with the witness", he formally requested.

And as she accepted, the prosecutor sweated. "Granted", her word echoed through the room.

Leaning back in his chair, the scientist looked at the witness as if to analyze her. "I'd like to start by asking..." With a showy gesture, he separated his hands from each other. "Do you actually think it was possible for your Inspector to rid the gun of ammunition without Mr Vapor noticing?"

The question caught her off guard. She had never questioned it, and it was just weird to her others would question it. While searching for a good thing to return, she looked at everyone in her field of vision and imagined what her mentor's reaction would be. She was sure he didn't like this at all. "I saw him do it on another occasion as well, I have no doubt he is capable of it", she finally came up with.

His response made her believe nothing would ever satisfy the defense attorney. "Yes, but did you see him do it, or did he just claim to have done it on another occasion?", the inquiry went on.

"What are you driving at?", Cheren rushed. It bothered him that he couldn't overwhelm his rival, and that his preparation wasn't enough to decide this trial.

At this point Colress knew very well that the prosecutor was used to gaining the upper hand quickly and not giving it up again, which was why his unorthodox tactics were so effective. "I just think it is very unrealistic that he could pull of such a trick. Surely we would know if it was doable? That would be common practice." Whi-Two made a mental note to remember asking her superior to teach it to her. "Doesn't it sound way more credible that the defendant never had any bullets in the first place? That in turn would mean the attempt to shoot our Detective was ineffective from the start, and while there is a dispute how ineffective attempts should be punished, I believe that there are strong arguments not to punish them at all in cases like these." The cards were on the table now, his strategy revealed. He attempted to impugn all the charges one by one, proposing alternative sequences of events. And him saying so as directly as this went against what he had done so far, putting everyone else further off their game.

But in spite of that, his adversary wouldn't play this way. "I have a witness saying Mr Lack-Two got the ammunition, all you have for your theory is the defendant agreeing to it because it benefits him", he claimed, sticking to the facts even when challenged to do otherwise.

That was something the other could admire a lot. "That's a valid point, you're really good!", he enthused again. It was something he could use to his advantage. "So if the evidence is on your side, you can easily prove it is the way you say: The officer just has to show us the bullets he took out of Mr Vapor's gun." It was a gamble, he couldn't know for sure whether that ammo was available. Still, he was sure enough to bet on it.

Rightfully so. "That evidence is not currently in my possession", Cheren admitted bitterly, he clearly didn't want to. "Your honor, I am asking for a recess in order to obtain it." The Inspector was right above them, and they could only imagine what he was thinking about this accusation. Still, he couldn't jump in, since he hadn't been enrolled as a witness, leaving it to his subordinate who had carried out the arrest for the record. That was why the prosecutor needed this recess.

Unfortunately for him, his counterpart wouldn't let that happen. "Objection! We both had time to prepare the evidence, something like this is not crucial enough to disrupt the trial for, we can continue without it and save everyone present some time", he argued. Without the proof, his made-up alternative story would stand just as passable as what truly happened.

For a short while, the judge thought about it. "The trial will not be postponed. You may continue the cross-examination", she then decided.

The Detective's heart sank. They had lost the judge's favor. The prosecutor wasn't quite ready to accept that. "But even if we assume that the defendant's weapon wasn't loaded in the first place, threatening someone with a weapon to get one's way is still a high crime", he pointed out with an unusually harsh voice.

That had been a mistake, giving a large amount of ground away, straying from the facts and joining Colress in his theorizing. Suddenly the latter was the one with the law on his side. "While that is correct, you charged Mr Vapor with attempted murder, not coercion, that is a huge difference. Are you saying that you made the wrong accusation?" And this was basically the nail in the coffin.

They resumed the interrogation, the defense lawyer wanted to know details about the smuggled arms and reasoned that Mitchell Vapor had just done his job as a warehouseman not knowing about the contents of the boxes the Aspertia unit had discovered. His opponent kept giving his all, providing exhibits to counter arguments. The young woman tried her best to fulfill her duty as a witness, yet she realized this was a battle between the lawyers, and she was not a huge part of it anymore. So instead she attempted to watch them carefully and learn as much as possible, since these two were certainly very skilled, and their commitment was inspiring. After all, their equal exertion was directed only at one question, though - who would win.

"That concludes the cross-examination for me, your honor", the scientist concluded once he considered he got everything out of it that he could have.

Nobody could have guessed what the woman in the high chair was thinking, the only evident thing was that she had been attentive. "Do you have any more witnesses you want to call in?" Both parties shook their head at her query. "Then the prosecution may hold his closing statement."

This was the last chance the young man would get, he knew. He didn't intend to throw it away. "We are facing a simple case here today. Despite the efforts of the defense, the witness was not proven wrong at any point. We have no reason to believe that the events didn't go down like this obviously skilled Detective reported us. There might be very unlikely alternatives how it could have gone, but the truth is that Mitchell Vapor is guilty as charged. Please don't be distracted by trifles, he must be found guilty", were his final words in this process before proposing the penalty.

Said defense had a closing statement to make soon after: "It is easy to jump to conclusions in a heated situation. I'm sure nobody will blame Miss Whi-Two for acting the way she did even though the defendant was innocent, we can all admire her actions. Still, in court we must ensure that we do not jump to conclusions like that, and correct the mistakes officers make while having to react quickly. Mr Vapor's arrest was clearly a mistake, one that we have to correct right now. The evidence presented is not strong enough to punish him, so he must be released, that is the only reasonable thing." He sounded convincing, and not worried at all that he could be wrong. Or that anybody would contradict him. He was confident to have this in his bag.

Everyone was looking to the judge now, who took her time to decide on a ruling. "I will now hand down the verdict", she announced. Nobody had been making sounds before, so it couldn't really get more silent, still it felt like it did. Maybe some people in the room stopped breathing. "In the charges of membership in an illegal organization, smuggling of arms for said group and attempted murder, I find the defendant..." Her voice was dilatory, way more dilatory than anyone would have liked at this moment. Or her voice wasn't dilatory at all and everything just seemed slow in this few seconds. "...Not guilty!" The hush continued for a while after she said it. And then they all fathomed it was over.

When the verdict had been announced, the Inspector wordlessly rose from his seat and stomped out of the courtroom. His mentee waited until she was sure everyone was excused to leave before following him, leaving a pale Cheren behind.

It took a moment before she found him in the palatial entrance hall, visibly bottling up his anger. "One person, that's all it takes. One easy to sway judge having been deceived to believe they're doing the right thing, and all our work was for nothing because the criminal runs free!", he rambled.

She didn't know what to say to him in this state and came to the conclusion that it was better to stay silent. This Lack-Two was not comparable to the one who had been talking down on her from a bridge that morning, maybe even less to the one who had been arguing with her on the train ride – this was Lack-Two defeated.

"Please don't be a sour loser now, you all did very well", Colress said walking towards the pair. "You are quite the opponents, I learned much from this." His smile was ever so present, and it wasn't a winning smile but a sympathetic one.

The girl had already been ticked off by how her superior's attitude, now she experienced that the scientist's constant lightheartedness was in no way better. "I'm very happy you learned something while ensuring the exoneration of a guilty man", she claimed sarcastically, though she still tried not to sound too mean.

Moving his hand to his mouth and assuming a thinking pose, the man in his lab coat processed the information given to him with this statement. "I see. If that is how you look at it, of course you would be disappointed by the outcome. Still, that isn't the way I understand it."

Her interest exceeded her annoyance. "How do you understand it, then?", she allowed herself to inquire.

One could see how thankful he was for the opportunity to share his view. "Whether he is guilty or not, we find out by holding a trial, that is why we do it in the first place. To my knowledge, Mr Vapor is proven innocent, and if he wasn't, you would've won the process. This would all be pointless if we didn't trust the judge's decision. I can have a clear conscience knowing the side who succeeds is in the right. Who that is overall has no influence on justice, since no person can claim it, yet in a court of law we come closer to it than anywhere else. Isn't it just fascinating to watch?" The way he talked had both the cold analytical peculiarity of a scientist and the succinct persuasiveness of a lawman.

However, the male officer was interested in something entirely different now. "You're not a public defender, so how did someone like Mitchell Vapor get you as his attorney?", he demanded to know.

To that, Colress chuckled. "You might say we have a mutual friend. Somebody with a lot of money who promised to finance all my studies in return for doing them a favor." It was evident that was the most precise answer they could get from him on this matter.

"I would love to meet that friend of yours sometime", Lack-Two responded with fake enthusiasm. His subordinate was irritated, she knew he was better at faking emotions than this. Only after the following statement from their counterpart she comprehended that he tried to convey the hidden message to her that the other's enthusiasm had been fake from some point onward as well.

"I am sure you will", were his last words before he left the building. "Probably sooner than you like."

* * *

Neither Castelia's newest Detective nor her mentor were in a good mood for the rest of the week. Eventually they agreed on a time for their get-together, and she gave him the address. Looking back, she felt stupid for how excited she had been when she had told her mother and sister about their guest. Not as excited as the former became once she found out, though. It took a long time for her to accept that this wasn't a date but an attempt to make a good impression on a superior. Yet when the time came her daughter was the one spending all day in front of a mirror hoping to look presentable. She didn't even know why she cared about that so much herself.

Lack-Two on the other hand spent his time just by getting to Aspertia City in the first place. Since he first had to get to Virbank by boat, he couldn't take his car from there on and settled with going by bus, which required him to switch to another line in Floccesy Town. He regularly checked his watch to be sure he wouldn't be late, the rest of the ride he read through and rearranged files.

Once he arrived at his subordinate's house, he waited another minute to be exactly punctual before ringing the doorbell. Whi-Two stopped placing the plates on the table and went to let him in. Opening the door, she was surprised to see him not in his usual attire but instead wearing casual gray jeans and a blue jersey. She hadn't been aware of him even having less formal clothes, and was somewhat glad to see he still stuck to the coat. After she invited him to enter, he placed it on the hall-stand, though.

He wouldn't have said anything about her looks either, despite his analytical eye noticing immediately how she wore her hair open and dressed in a yellow skirt and simple top for the occasion. Had he not been thinking about that, maybe he would have seen her mother waiting for them to enter the kitchen to take a photo of them soon enough. Since he didn't react fast enough for once, she got what she wanted, laughing happily.

While her daughter's first instinct was to sink into the ground, she managed to smile as well. "Inspector, this is my overly excited mother", she introduced them.

"Excuse my agitation", the parent apologized. "It's just that my daughters haven't brought anyone over for dinner since Captain Leo, and that was occupational as well." Her reasoning made him raise an eyebrow. "You must be Inspector Lack-Two, then", the woman wanted to be sure.

Now a smile formed on his face. Had his mentee not seen this fake smile before, she would have been fooled as well, so she knew her family would buy it, and was mad that he wouldn't be genuine with them. Unless this actually was him being genuine, and he faked his demeanor at work to earn respect. For a second she believed that. He made her want to believe that. "My name is Nate River, you can call me Nate when I'm not at work", he offered. The Detective froze, absolutely certain he was lying now. After refusing to reveal his real name for so long, she couldn't fathom he simply dropped it like this, and yet, he did. It always seemed like she got him backwards.

She attempted not to show her irritation and continue quickly, so she made a gesture towards the third woman in the room, a blue-eyed brunette with a ponytail wearing a white shirt and a thin black vest above it who appeared to be a few years older than her. "And this is my sister Hilda."

Hilda shared a short look with him. Everyone who paid attention would have realized her look of disbelieve said more than a thousand words. She picked up her Xtransceiver and pretended her shock stemmed from what she saw on the screen. "Oh no, I forgot I still have to practice the changes in my script for the performance tomorrow! I'm afraid I can't stay, as much as I'd love to." He noted she was a bad liar, but for her family it was enough.

Her mother made a disappointed face. "And that really can't wait until we've had dinner?", she wondered while her older daughter already grabbed her shoulder bag.

"I'm so sorry, I'll make up for it by stopping by again soon, mom", she promised, and then walked up to Lack-Two. "I would have loved to talk to you a little, hopefully we can rectify this soon. I'm an actress in the theater of Nimbasa City, why don't you come visit me there? If you like, I can bestow you a ticket." Rummaging through her belongings, she pulled one out of her purse before even finishing the sentence.

Without any resistance, he received it. "Thank you, I'll be there", he accepted the offer.

After that, it didn't take long for her to move past him and towards the door. "Bye, everyone", she saw them off and hurried outside.

"That was weird", her younger sister acknowledged. "I haven't seen her like this for a while, not since..."

"You have to excuse my daughter, Nate, she works really hard for this role", the older woman apologized.

The guest nodded. "That's something to be admired", he assessed. "It seems to run in the family."

Whi-Two's face reddened. Still, she decided against thanking him for the compliment, having no idea whether he meant it or was just trying to make a good impression on her mother. It was weird, considering it had originally been her aim to make a good impression on him, not the other way around.

The latter was actually delighted by the kind words. "Why don't you sit down at the dining table?", she suggested. While he did so, the two women set the table for their visitor. He offered to help them, still they insisted on doing it themselves.

They started eating reticently aside from some comments about how everything tasted well. "You're just as much of a gourmet as Leo, who would've thought?", the female Detective noted at one point.

Her superior didn't look up from the food. "I usually cook for myself, but I'm not all that good at it, never concentrated. So I enjoy getting a meal someone puts effort in, thank you."

"You're very welcome", the mother took it as a compliment. "You don't have a girlfriend, then?", she asked with way more excitement in her voice than should have been there.

While her daughter shot her an angry look, he seemed to find no reprehensible intentions. "No, I haven't had one for a while, it's a little complicated in this occupation", he said apparently without thinking about it much.

Not wanting to think about the implications of what he said or how the owner of the house would react, his mentee quickly changed the topic: "My mom is a cook in Aspertia's most popular restaurant, so you won't find anybody who puts more effort in", she lauded.

The cook went along with the change of subject mainly because she wasn't going along with the praise. "Enough of that! My daughters are an actress and a Detective, who am I to be the one being commended here?" Due to her intonation it sounded less like downplaying of herself and more like pride of her children.

He let her finish and ate another morsel before responding. "Why would a cook not be worth of commendation? An occupation can only be measured by how you help people or make them happy, and seeing how good this tastes you sure do both". His co-worker had never heard that much praise from him and the thought of whether that was because of his fake persona right now or because she wasn't doing good enough wouldn't leave her until she came to the conclusion that he just had a soft spot for food.

It wasn't made easier by her mother's next comment: "You never told me what a flatterer that man is. If only my supervisor was like that", she enthused.

Now the girl was the one who had to fake a smile, and she had no idea how he did it with such ease. "Oh, I have some stories to tell", was the subtle implication she left it at.

All three of them ate up their desserts talking about the news and the weather and their hometowns. Once an opportunity arose, Lack-Two excused himself to get some fresh air. The older hostess wouldn't let him leave without a glass of wine, which he gratefully accepted but didn't drink out of in front of her.

When Whi-Two had finished helping her mom clear the table, she picked up the open bottle and followed him outside. She had always loved the view from their balcony, with the tall buildings of Aspertia on the left, the trees around the river on the right and the night sky above them. He was leaning on the railing gazing at the stars, and she almost felt like she shouldn't interrupt him, just looking at him with a grin for a while. "You must be cold without your coat, should I get it for you?", she ultimately spoke up.

He tilted his head towards her, the fake smile was gone. She thought what he had needed more than air might have been some time to recover from putting on an act for so long. "How could I be cold? You're looking too hot for outside temperature to have any effect", he flirted.

How hard she blushed, she couldn't tell, and she hated it. It was at that moment she swore to herself that he would never catch her off guard again. Then her brain made the obvious connection: "Are you already thus drunk?", she questioned ironically.

In response, he lifted his empty glass for her to see. Rolling her eyes, she refilled it for him and poured the rest into her own tumbler, thereby emptying the bottle she brought.

"You've been behaving very different this evening than you usually do", the young woman pointed out, taking a sip.

The addressed moved his look to the stars again. "It's not hard to make those who haven't met you yet like you, I've done it countless times when working undercover", he mumbled.

So it was true that this persona of him was the situated one. "I didn't ask you to put on an act in front of my family", was her first thought.

"And what if I hadn't?", he challenged her argument. "Your mom would have hated me and you'd have to assure her each time you visit that everything is fine between us from now on."

While she recognized he was right, it wasn't a solution to her anyways. "Yeah, but now I'll have to endure the questions on whether we're finally dating each time instead", she gave into consideration jokingly.

To that, he nodded. "Indeed, there seemed to be no possibility for you to reach a positive outcome. But I told you this dinner wasn't a good idea and you insisted, so don't blame that on me." It wasn't quite sarcasm yet, still he was getting closer, which sufficed for her.

Since he had a different understanding of positive outcomes than her, the Detective tried to frame it differently: "I still had a good time. And at least I know your real name now."

"Is that really so important to you?", he grumbled. "River is my father's last name, by law I am Nate Desolé. I don't introduce myself that way because then I'd have to explain why I have a name from Kalos."

"Oh, so your family comes from there originally?", Rosa inquired, before realizing what she just did. "Sorry, forget I asked." Unable to suppress her own laughter, she wasn't sure whether she heard him chuckle as well or just imagined it.

Even more it surprised her when he actually gave an answer. "My mom is a famous politician in that region. My dad runs a successful international business. Even my younger brother is a sport star by now. Somehow as the second-youngest Inspector the police has ever had, I am still a disappointment. I had my father organize a training in Unova for me because I wanted to escape the pressure." It probably was the most honest he had ever been about himself in her company, and she found herself wondering how much of this he would have revealed without alcohol. The thought made her nip on her own glass like a reflex.

Starting to feel a little more spirited herself, she dared asking for more. "Your parents must have at least been happy to hear about the successes that made you rise in rank, right?", she pondered.

His eyes stared into the distance, not at the stars, rather at the blackness between them. "It was never my successes that allowed me to rank up." There was something like remorse in his voice. "I just got the positions that Superintendent Anabel rose above. A dirty deal... to help both of us have secure opportunities of advancement. I could have achieved all that on my own like Hugh did, too. Now I'll never get the chance to prove it."

It almost sounded like he confessed a crime, though she knew no amount of alcohol could make him do that, if any amount could make him commit one in the first place. "If you aren't satisfied with the promotions, why would you make such a deal with the Superintendent in the first place? Do you have a crush on Anabel or something?" She didn't believe it when she said it. He reacted by looking at her for a second, and his face told her how much she hit the mark. "No, not really! Really?", she stuttered in skepticism.

With a mild annoyance, the Inspector growled. "Don't get too excited, she already turned me down", he dampened her imagination, in whichever way it might have gone. He suddenly seemed to not like the course of the conversation, so he changed it. "Enough about me, what is your motivation?", he demanded to know.

"I want to help the victims", she responded immediately. "As many of them as I can. They deserve to get justice by every case being investigated as thoroughly as possible and to be taken care of and kept informed until the guilty one is found. And I suppose I could do that best if I became Superintendent, so that is my goal." After she didn't get a reaction for a short amount of time, she hastily added a limitation. "That is, once you and Anabel both move on from the post, I'm aware that I have to wait for that."

Now it seemed like he found a star he liked enough to focus his eyes on. "Maybe. But who knows? With Hugh, we have the third-youngest Deputy, and Anabel was the youngest in every office she's ever led. You yourself have superseded me as the second-youngest Detective to ever join our unit. This really is the age of youth. You've got game." She was confused whether his message with these words actually was that she could become Superintendent sooner than she imagined, and why he would tell her that, though she decided to just accept the support.

Drinking another mouthful of wine, she remembered that they were doing this meeting to learn more about each other's personal life, so she attempted to talk about something other than work. "Do you enjoy stargazing, Sir?", was the best she came up with.

He thought over his answer. This shouldn't have been a question he had to think over, especially not when gazing at the stars during that moment. "Astronomy isn't my area of expertise, I just enjoy looking at them. And I know a fair bit about astrology, even though I don't believe in it", he avowed.

"Is that so? I'm a Virgo, what is your zodiac sign?", she teased him with a grin.

This time he retaliated with teasing of his own: "Oh, I'm a Taurus, I heard they have great compatibility with Virgos. We truly are a match made in heaven!"

Folding her hands in front of her chest, she pretended to be exacting. "Only if you stop talking down on me from bridges", she postulated.

Lack-Two straightened himself up and stepped closer towards her. "Have you found the solution to the train case by now?" His tone was expectant, yet encouraging, which was new.

She took her time to think about her answer. She had thought about it a lot during that week. He clearly had something very specific in mind. Going through all the information Looker had given her, she finally came up with something. "What exactly was the cargo of that train?", she spoke out her idea.

"That's the right question", he confirmed pleased. "The commodities the freight train was carrying were a load of military weapons which were bought and ordered to be shipped here just recently by our Minister of Defense", was the final clue.

Now it was the logical conclusion. "The three members of Team Plasma were on that bridge to board the train and thereby sneak into the weapon depository to steal as much as they can", Whi-Two inferred, her voice boasting with confidence that this time she got it right.

And her superior nodded approvingly. "Dirk June wanted to go first and messed up his timing, his accomplices were shocked and tried to flee", he reconstructed the rest.

"So since they all marked the date in their calendars, not just the two who survived, that proves it wasn't just their plan to kill him, he was in on the planning. And the fact that they didn't also write what they intended to do implies it was illegal", she ended her deduction.

"You're going to be a great Superintendent one day", he lauded. Her face made it obvious she was pondering whether he had been serious or making fun of her, so he cleared it up. " I don't have that kind of humor", he just repeated Hugh's words.

This made her giggle. "In that case, thank you." She leaned on the railing and gazed at the stars like he had done before she came. He made the same pose again as well.

For a while they stayed silent, different things on their mind. At this moment, he enjoyed her company enough to confide with her. "You know, there's something about this incident that worries me a great deal." She turned towards him to signal he got her full attention. "Mitchell Vapor and Dirk June have something in common, they both attempted to secure weapons for Team Plasma. And this organization is already well-equipped as the fake police helicopter shows. They want such an amount of arms for something specific. I'd rather not wait to find out what it is."

She immediately understood his concern. Nevertheless, whether it was due to the effect of the alcohol or the joy of having her first enjoyable conversation with him, she would stay optimistic. "Vapor and June have another thing in common, they both failed. We're going to get to the bottom of this before they get what they want. As a team", she committed to the task.

"As a team", he assented, finally convinced. His sigh sounded tired. "Sleep long tomorrow morning, Detective, I'm moving your shift to the afternoon", he volunteered.

Having not paid attention to the time, she suddenly was very relieved to not be forced to stand up early the next morning. "That's very kind of you. I hope you grant yourself the same treatment."

Surprised she would think of that, he nodded slowly. "I'll consider it." Getting hold of his glass, he lowered his voice. "Could you give me a few more minutes before I say goodbye to your mother?", he requested.

She emptied her own drink and agreed. "Okay then, I'll be waiting for you in the kitchen, take as long as you need." With a smile she left him alone on a balcony. He made sure to wait until she couldn't watch him anymore, then emptied out his wine over the railing.

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**There are two clear sides in a game of chess, black and white, two players fighting against each other in a battle of wits with no third party, no in between and no gray area. It is never questioned that everything black is opposing to everything white on the board, and if it was, the match would end in chaos. In spite of that, the colors of chess pieces do not represent something like good or evil. White might be the bad side, or they could be replaced with red and blue figures. All of that comes together as the reason why chess can hardly represent any process in the real world.  
**

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**This is the end of the fourth chapter, and hopefully you enjoyed it. I****f that's the case, please consider liking and following the story. I'm especially grateful for reviews, be it concerning the content, my writing style or whatever you feel like talking about, those are my main drive of continuing my work.**

**One more shoutout to Leafpuff, she's only getting better with everything she writes and I recommend you check her stories out! Have a nice rest of a summer and fall, I hope the world recovers from it's current problems quickly, and until it does we can flee into the world of fiction for a while longer.  
**


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